My Calling
by Cornell Valentine Gainsborough
Summary: A story a friend and I devised, mostly reedited from its original format. T for language and violence in later chapters. Takes place about 450 years after Disgaea 2. Final chapter posted. Part two is in the Darkstalkers section.
1. Leaving

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Inner Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

A/N: Due to another computer crash, I had to get myself another one (this is the third one in two months) and rewrite a whole load of stuff that was lost to the older computers.

Normally, I type my stories in OpenOffice, but I have yet to get it installed, so I'm making use of Notepad until I can reinstall OpenOffice again.

Well, this is a Disgaea based fiction I had been discussing with a friend of mine. After going over a few plot points, and getting his OK on use of his OC, I began to create this.

Disclaimer: Disgaea and its elements are property of Nippon Ichi, but the OC Nelius is mine, and the other OC, who will be mentioned possibly around Chapter 3, belongs to my friend. Many thanks to him for use of his character. There's also fairly heavy language and blood abound in this fic.

Chapter 1: Leaving

Nelius' Journal Log: August 17, 33XX

_I've had it._

_I don't understand the current situation with the Overlord, but the ever increasing workload has become too much. There are other vassals lazing about while I'm doing all the dirty work. _

_There's only one option left as of right now. _

_Soon, the Overlord's going to be heading for that meeting in another Netherworld. I can use that as my chance to get the hell out of this place. After grabbing some provisions out of the storeroom, I'll head for the Eastern Dimension Port. I can sneak aboard one of the vessels there and escape this hellhole. _

_I can't even imagine the hell that dad had to go though working under this bitch. _

**MAKAI! **

"Attention, all vassals. Report to the Throne Room for an important announcement."

A brown-haired demon closed his journal, slipping it underneath his bed before heading out of his room.

"Showtime, then."

Taking a right, Nelius headed for the Throne Room, where the Overlord of this Netherworld sat upon her throne. He knew that attendance of these announcements was mandatory to his plan, so he wouldn't cause anyone to suspect that he was up to something.

The Overlord of this realm was female, a rather rare occurance, but the number of female Overlords was alreay common in other Netherworlds. Many of her vassals liked to joke that she was a near copy of Overlord Priere, maybe her long lost twin. (Of course, nobody ever said that when she was in the room, unless they liked the idea of losing a few limbs.)

"All right, down to business." The only thing different between her and Priere was her blue hair, but they had fiery tempers all the same. "As most of you know, I'm leaving for the Interdimensional Meeting being held in Priere's Netherworld." A few of the vassals had to suppress a laugh, in memoty of the above mentioned joke. "I'm leaving Cera in charge until I return." Most of the vassals let out a low groan.

Cera was the Overlord's militiant officer, and second in command while the Overlord, Sirea, was gone. A tall, proud Samurai demoness, she was known for her advanced levels of strictness, especially when it came to completing tasks. She was rather fond of whacking people's backsides with a Heavy Sword, already having sent two others to the Hosptal with cracked spinal columns.

'Shit! This throws a wrench into my plans.' His yellow eyes were focused on the Army officer.

**MAKAI! **

So begins the torture. The moment Sirea left, hell descended upon the castle.

"Walk faster! Keep youself straight! Watch what you're doing!"

'Someone really needs to tell her this ain't the military.' Nelius thought to himself.

For her age, Cera had hearing that could detect an insult from over 6 miles away, and that wasn't an exaggeration. One time, she'd been on the other side of the castle, and heard a derogatorial comment abut her. If not for the fact that her insulter was female, she might've killed her.

'Still, there has to be some way to keep her distracted...'

His distraction came in the form of a large scale group of bandits who previously made attempts to rob the Overlord. Though it was Cera who drove them off, they were fairly persistant, having large numbers in place of strength, integrating other groups of thieves. As they swarmed the castle, Nelius made his way to the storeroom, where a few bandits were trying to grab a free bite to eat.

Sneaking up behind one who was about to dig into a bag of chips, he reared his fist back and let it fly, hearing a crunch of bone as his confirmation that this bandit wouldn't be taking his food. As soon as they heard the skull of their comrade crunch, two more bandits headed for the young demon, who swiftly took care of them via a well-aimed Lion's Roar. Once they were done for, Nelius noted something odd sticking out of one of the bandit's belt. Upon inspecting it, he discovered there was a sack with a fair amount of Hell inside of it.

Remembering his original mission, he grabbed a sack and began to stuff all kinds of food inside of it, ranging from dried meat to energy bars, two water bottles, and three napkins. As another wave of bandits descended upon the castle, Nelius dashed back to his room, taking a bag of traveling clothes, a pillow and blanket, and his journal back with him. Hoisting his travel bags over his back, they caught him off balance for a moment, but he righted himself. He made his way over to the back pantry, where an old back door constructed by the previous Overlord stood intact.

Moving the shelf unit aside, he took one last look at his prison for the past three years as the battles continued.

"Good bye, Sirea, and good riddance to this place!"

He swung the door open, moved the shelf unit back to its original place, and, after closing the door as to cover his tracks, made his way through an underground passage that lead him east. It was far cooler down here; that would make walking through this passage much more bearable.

After traveling for about thirty minutes, due to the sacks' weight, he eventually found the trap door that lead to the surface.

"Phew. I should've planned this out better." Wiping some sweat from his brow, he grabbed one rung of the ladder and began climbing. After a good ten minutes, mostly because the sacks wanted shift in every direction, he reached the surface, pushing the door aside and climbing out.

He'd traveled about a good eight miles from the castle. This was it, his first step toward his own freedom.

"Next stop, the Port. That place's usually busy. I can hitch a ride out of this place from there."

He positioned himself eastward, and began walking.

**MAKAI! **

It's not exactly the best intro to this story that I had planned, but we've got to start somewhere, right?

Well, the next chapter's going to be about the three days spent getting to the Dimension Port.

Until next Chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	2. Three Days

My calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter 1.

Chapter 2: Three Days

Nelius Journal Log : August 18, 33XX

_The scent of freedom is invigorating... or was that the pine trees? _

_Anyway, now that I'm no longer under the employ of Sirea, I find myself at a loss of what to do... before, there was a heavy structure with barely any time to rest; now that I'm out in this world, the possibilities have started to become limitless. _

_Once I make it to the Dimension Port, I can board a ship there and begin to explore other Netherworlds. Perhaps, outside of this world, I can find my own niche. _

**MAKAI!**

Nelius closed his Journal Log, placing it inside of his sack of personal belongings.

Since yesterday, he had been traveling on foot, stopping only to make use of the food in his bag, the occasional bathroom break, and when nightfall descended. Though this was his first official day outside of the castle, it actually was the second day he'd been traveling.

Reaching for his pillow and blanket, he heard a rustling noise that stopped him cold. Whipping his head toward the sound, he reached his right hand into his sack and pulled out an old, black and gold gauntlet. Its appearance was sharp, suggesting it had been used primarily for delivering blows that would tear a normal person's flesh apart. On the armpiece there were intricate drawings that had no normal way of being described.

'My father's prized weapon, the old family heirloom, Shatter Gauntlet.' Placing it onto his left arm, it covered his left hand down to his elbow. Flexing his fingers to test for any rustiness, he stood up and walked over to the source of the sound. Parting the bushes aside, what he saw made his blood turn ice cold.

A creature looked back at him. It seemed to take no shape at all, having an inky coloring that blended with the shade of the plants. Its eyes stared at him with a color indescribable to man, demon and angel alike. Yet, in the back of his mind, Nelius could easily swear that he'd seen this creature somewhere once before.

"Nelius..." It called to him in a calm voice that belied its appearance.

"Huh?" A wave of panic racked his body. How did this... thing know his name? "You know me?"

"Of course. You made the right decision in escaping Sirea."

"You've been stalking me?!" If he'd been a bit rattled then, he was definitely alarmed now.

"Watching over you, to be precise; a task someone gave to me many years ago."

"Who?"

"Forgive me, but I cannot tell you as of now... what I can do, is this.." From its body, a ball of darkened energy floated upward and hovered in the air, then moved to Nelius. "Consider it a gift."

"What the.. what is this?"

"As I said, a gift. With this, you can begin to harness the true power of darkness.."

"Hold on a second. Haven't I always heard that darkness was.."

"Evil? True, it is used by evil, but is never necessarily evil itself. Inheriently, many fear what they cannot control. Merely, light and darkness are little more than pawns in this constant struggle of good versus evil. You would do well to remember this."

"Okay, but, why me?"

"Consider me... a friend, from a former life." Its body dispersed. "I must go."

"Wait!" It was a bit late for Nelius to ask any questions. It was gone. 'A former life? What in the world...' Forgetting completely about the dark orb, he went to head back to his stuff, not even noticing that the orb had entered his body through his right hand, which was covered in a knuckle glove that had the captial A on the middle finger knuckle.

**MAKAI!**

Nelius Journal Log, August 19, 33XX

_Such a strange occurance yesterday..._

_I was preparing to go to bed, when this strange creature approaches me. It knew my name, and even claimed to know me from a past life... whatever that means. It gave me some kind of orb and a talk on good versus evil, then disappeared._

_I can only wonder what is going on. _

_At any rate, guessing from the distance that I've traveled, I've only got about another day or two of travel before I make it to the Port. The only thing I can do now is hope that Sirea's goons don't notice I escaped; otherwise, it's back to that prison again for me._

**MAKAI!**

Having climbed a tree, Nelius got the general lay of the land. As he had thought, he could see the Interdimensional Port, where traveling demons who made use of Dimension Ships could travel into other Netherworlds. His own chance to break away from the mundane was only a day away.

'There it is. From there, only a ship ride away will allow me to finally do as I have wanted.'

Because of the traveling and consumption of food, Nelius' bags have become significantly lighter, allowing him to carry them with ease; mostly to prevent would-be bandits from stealing his goods. He jumped down from the tree, landing on his feet, and proceeded to continue his travel toward the port. He had been moving through a rather hilly region, which allowed him to easily get a view of the area, but was all the while treacherous. He would continue walking for another two hours before nightfall, where he would enter into a remote town that's usually known as Midnight for the thick expanses of trees that cover the whole town, making it appear as if the town was constantly in nightfall.

'Let's see...' Nelius looked around, but saw that the trees above him blocked out any light from the sun or moon, making it noticibly cooler. 'Huh, can't see a thing around here. Need some kind of light.'

Almost instantly, the orb he'd received from the other day glowed from within his body, and adjusted his eyesight, making the inhabitants of the town and the buildings that were carved into the trees noticible.

'No idea how I did that, but it works.' He could see the demonic inhabitants of the town going about, doing their own things. Some of the humanoid demons were holding conversations with a few of the monster type demons that originally lived around the area; from Mothmen and Zombies to Nekomatas and Succubi, they all seemed to be getting along fine.

A low growl escaped his stomach. Aside from the two packs of dried meat he'd had back in the tree, he hadn't eaten much within the past few hours.

'Whoops. Better find somewhere to stock up for the rest of the trip.' Finding the RosenQueen Company shop, Midnight Branch near the center of the city, he had to keep a straight face as he walked by the citizens, noticing that most of them were giving him odd looks, or commenting that they'd never seen someone like him before. 'Just ignore them, the shop's right there in front of you.' He increased his pace and entered into the store. Working the counter today was a Kunoichi, a Female Ninja. Though Kunoichi weren't as physically strong as their male counterparts, they had excellent magical proficiency and could gain powerful speed bursts that allowed them to attack twice in one strike.

Her violet eyes watched him suspiciously as he entered the store, headed for the food section of the store, and began picking out goods that wouldn't perish very easily; after all, he was going to be stowing away on a ship for God knows how long. The trip could be any time from a day to several weeks long, and he needed enough to last out at least two weeks.

Taking his selection to the front counter, the Kunoichi took count of his items, and rang up the total of 4,942 Hell. Reaching for the pouch in his left pocket, he counted out the exact amount, and handed it to the cashier. As she counted out the money and placed it into the register, Nelius placed the items he'd bought into his travel bag. Slinging it over his shoulder, he left the store. Though he had to face the stares of the populace again, he had gotten what he came for, so he hadn't any need to worry.

Right as he was about to leave town, someone called out to him.

"Hey, stranger." This voice was feminine, having just a hint of teasing to it.

'Damn. Thought I could get out of here easily.' Not even turning around to face his onlookers, he kept walking toward the entrance of the city. From the sound of the footsteps, there were three people following him on foot. One of them was wearing some type of footwear, the other walked barefoot, and the last one had the strange sound of foilage moving as it followed him. He continued walking, leading them outside of the city before he would confront them. He lead them about a good mile east before stopping.

"Never knew some people could be so persistant." He called to them as he turned around.

His followers consisted of a Nekomata, a cat demon with the body of a mature woman known for their powerful kicks, counterattacks, and unique martial arts; an Alraune, a female spirit that resided inside of a flower, and used techniques of nature to attack her opponents; and a Succubus, a female demon known for its alluring attire and ability to deal more damage toward male characters.

"Well, isn't this my day?" He said, an odd grin adorning his face. "So, to what do I owe this visit?" Though he had taken the open approach to this, his mind was currently going over several scenarios as to how he could get out of this situation alive. He knew that taking care of the Nekomata would be fairly easy, since all but one of their attacks required close quarter combat, but the Alraune could easily nail him with several attacks, since they were still inside the woods, though the foilage had thinned out considerably, and the Succubus would just need to get close in order to begin dealing her damage.

"Oh, nothing... _much_." The Nekomata grinned at him, her teeth glistening in the minute amounts of moonlight.

"Yes, we're awfully lonely; we just want a bit of company." The Alraune saw this as her turn to attempt to tease him.

"Just for one night, sugar." The Succubus winked at him. "How about it?"

"Normally, I would be enamored by such requests," He started, as he placed one foot behind him, "but I don't acquaint myself with someone I don't know." With the cracking sound of a gunshot, he'd turned around and was gone. The three girls giggled to themselves before giving chase.

Nelius was speeding through the forest, thinking on how he could lose his three pursuers.

'It won't be too easy. The Nekomata can easily exceed my current speed, and I find it surprising that the Alraune isn't bending the trees to block me. The Succubus can fly to a degree, so it can just... float over... the..'

The thought hit him like a felled tree, if you'd pardon the bad analogy. As he ran, he could feel something inside of his back reaching out through his shoulder blades. In about three minutes, a medium sized pair of demon wings sprouted from his back, destroying a good part of his shirt and splashing some blood everywhere. It _had_ been years since his wings were ever let out for a stretch. The cartilage structure was green, with red coloring on the inside of his wings; the backside was a stark gray in contrast.

"Damn!" He hissed as the pain shot through his back, but subsided rather quickly. "I forgot to release them every few months to keep them from doing something like this." He had no more time to chide himself as the Succubus was flying right at him. Giving an experimental flap of his wings, he took a leap into the air as the demon passed straight underneath him. He quickly landed on an outstretched branch, taking in the view of his surroundings. The Nekomata had easily jumped up to a branch equal to his, and the Alraune was using the vines on the underside of her flower to climb the tree. The Succubus just landed on a branch behind him. 'Well, this is not the way I expected to leave town.' As the three females launched themselves toward him, he prepared to jump, when, in the blink of an eye, he was teleported a good distance away as the three crashed into each other.

'Whoa, what the heck was that?' He wondered.

"**Netherburst..**" A voice seemed to command from inside of himself.

'Huh? Netherburst?'

"**A technique outmatched only through light. With this, distance is only a blink away.**"

'Why do I get the feeling this was scripted?' The voice he heard earlier wasn't saying anything. 'Never mind that, at least it got those three off of my tail.' As he looked over to where they were, he noticed that they were gone.

"Ohh, boy, where did you go?" The teasing voice of the Alraune made Nelius shiver.

"Come on out, we won't bite... hard." The Nekomata was the next to try and lure him out.

"Don't be shy, we just wanted to play." The Succubus' comment caused a literal chill to race up and down his spine.

When he looked down, the three looked upward, and the chase was on for the second time.

'Shit! I'm seriously beginning to think I've got the worst luck with women!' He told himself as he jumped from branch to branch, barely making each jump. 'I wonder if I was cursed in a past life.' He knew that he couldn't keep this up forever; his wings were still relatively new to him, and his legs were beginning to tire out. He had to find some way to end this chase, and quick.

His wings had an icy sensation flow through them, which stopped him on the branch. His three pursuers stopped on their own branches.

"Ohhh, looks like he tired out." The Nekomata was the first to notice. She looked to her comrades. "What do you say we.. re-energize him, girls?"

They giggled to themselves, and were about to jump at Nelius, when they noticed something odd about him.

His wings, now glowing with star energy (it's analogous to electricity), were aimed downward. He looked at all three of them.

"Hasta la vista!" With that, the wings fired off their energy, creating photonic bursts that illuminated the whole forest, blinding Nelius' pursuers, and launching him several feet backwards, out of the woods and toward his goal: the Dimension Port.

He continued for about thirty seconds, at which he ran out of power. As he fell, he rotated around so his wings would allow him to glide toward the city. Though his wings were rather tired ot, they had enough strength to allow him to glide for a while.

**MAKAI! **

Nelius Journal Log: August 20, 33XX

_I finally made it. After a truly strange three days, I have made it to the Dimension Port City, without having any of Sirea's vassals finding me. _

_Now, the only thing standing between me and my freedom is a ride on a ship. Only real problem is, there's so many ships. How am I to choose? _

_I guess I have only one solution: just choose a ship and be done with it. _

**MAKAI! **

Whew. This is easily the longest I have ever written in the course of two days.

Next chapter introduces the OC of a good friend of mine.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	3. Beginnings

My calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Disclamer: Refer to chapter 1.

Chapter 3: Beginnings

Nelius closed his Log Journal, barely placing inside of his travel bag. He hadn't had the chance to get any sleep since the chase last chapter, and the drowsiness was beginning to catch up to him in heavy amounts. At times, he had to fight in order to stay awake.

Around the Dimension Port, there were many diverse kinds of ships docked around the city. While most of them looked similar to the avarage pirate ship (think the pirates of the Item World), there were several ships that had the futuristic design going for them. One ship in particular caught his sleepy attention.

It was easily a large ship, with four ionic thrusters in the back. Two sets of wings, one in the front and one in the back, had special hinges that allowed them to fold into their current shape; they were known as swing wings. The front of the ship, however, was what caught his attention the most: another set of swing wings had folded over the cockpit of the ship, giving it a feline appearance. Nelius laughed at the irony of his situation.

'I get away from a feline, and this ship has its own feline features.' Shaking away the drowsiness, he turned his mind back onto his mission. He had to find a ship to stow away on in order to escape this Netherworld. He checked his bag. There was enough food to last him for at least a week, two if he skipped a day on eating every now and then. 'Good. It should last me the length of the trip.'

Unfortunately for him, while he'd been checking his supplies, most of the ships had taken off, leaving Nelius with a few scant choices.

'Oh, now I know _this_ was scripted.' His choices had been dwindled down from roughly one hundred to only three.

One of the ships he recognized immediately. It was one of Sirea's personal battle cruisers, normally used for supply runs. That one was out of the question.

The second ship had the fairly archetypical design, looking like a regular Item World Pirate Ship. He'd easily stick out like a sore appendage on that old thing.

His choice settled on the feline-esque ship.

**MAKAI!**

"Hey, Brad, good to see you again!" The Heavy Knight, known for its strong armor and excellent throwing radius, called out.

The one known as Brad was a anthropomorphic black jaguar. Though the sight of an upright walking cat was common, Brad was a completely different case, mostly in the fact that he was the only known male cat demon; an incredibly rare case in the Netherworlds. Some would consider him a walking trophy, if not for the fact that, for his size, he could easily tear any hunter to shreds in the blink of an eye.

"Jackson." He grinned toward the Knight. "I can certainly see you're doing fine as well."

"So, the usual supply of stuff?" He reached underneath the counter and extracted a box marked Brad.

"Yeah." The cat reached into his pocket and extracted a bag with Jackson's payment. He handed it over to the Knight. "This should be enough."

"My friend, it's more than enough. So, how's the formation coming along?"

"Well, I've got the construction down, but I can't step out of the boundaries; otherwise, everything will shatter apart."

"That must suck. Sounds like you'd need a good explorationist."

"Yeah, but hey, you can't have everything. Well, see you later." With that, Brad headed back for his ship, Phantom Cat Mk. 2.

**MAKAI!**

Sneaking around to the backside of the large ship, Nelius noticed a bay door open, with two Heavy Knights busy loading several boxes full of supplies.

'Getting past those two won't be easy,' He noted. As one loaded a box up, the other stood watch, making it practically impossible to get past them. After a good five minutes, the two headed around to the front of the ship to signal that everything was packed up. As the loading door closed, Nelius shot out from his hiding spot, and, with a leap that could put the Mario Brothers to shame, he jumped over the closing door and made it inside. 'Whew, I made it... whoaa!" He didn't have much time to congratulate himself, because just two seconds after the door closed, the ship rattled and took off.

'Next destination: wherever the hell I'm headed!' With that, he lulled off to his much needed sleep, postponed by the three demons who'd chased him well into the morning hours.

**MAKAI!**

Back at the Overlord's Keep, damage assessment was going around, ever since the invasion of the bandits. Cera was busy overseeing reconstruction.

"What's going on here?" Sirea's voice rang out.

"Mistress Sirea!" Cera was immediately present. "During your time away, several factions of bandits attempted to raid the castle. Of course, they weren't a match."

"Spare me the attempt at flattery, where are the vassals?"

"Currently finishing repairs on the damaged areas."

"I see, and what about that boy?"

"He's been rather quiet as of late. I saw him fighting a few bandits near the pantry, but that was it."

"Go to his room, then; check up on him." Cera did as she was commanded as Sirea took a seat upon her throne.

The meeting had been over three days long, mostly concerning new matters between the Netherworlds, Earth, and Celestia. While she didn't care much for the Earth, the matter on Celestia had caught her rapt attention. As she was about to go over the details, Cera burst into the throne room.

"M-mistress Sirea... he's gone!" Her face was pale.

"What?!" Sirea's face grew red with fury. "What do you mean, he's gone?"

"Somehow, he escaped. I don't see how, since someone else should've seen him."

"I don't care about the details, just find that boy immediately!" Sirea shrieked. Cera was out of the throne room in a heartbeat. She moved to the balcony which allowed her a view of the Netherworld she held dominion over. 'I cannot allow him to fall into another Overlord's hands. He possesses something of great value to me, and I will have it!' She looked toward the darkened sky, seeing the few ships that came in and out of the Dimension Port.

'I will have you back, my little hybrid.'

**MAKAI!**

Well, this concludes another chapter.

Now that I realize it, I really don't need OpenOffice to write out these stories. True, it is an excellent writing program, but I currently see no need to download it yet.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	4. Stow away

My calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 4: Stowaway

Aboard the Phantom Cat Mk. 2, traveling through the dimensional space between Netherworlds, Nelius was sound asleep in the cargo hold, catching up on the hours he'd missed. His mind was racing with many different possibilities, ranging from how different the Overlord was to meeting up with the locals. His next dream (or perhaps a vision) was vividly different, showing himself, but instead of having his regular demon wings, one of them had transformed into a black-feathered angel wing, with hsi other wing remaining the same as it was two chapters ago. His 'Dream Self' then jumped high into the Heavens, almost reaching Celestia itself, before two angels catapulted himback down toward the ground, at which he began spinning his body into a spiral, collecting demonic and angelic energy into himself.

"**Spiraling**.."

Nelius awoke with a start. He found himself wishing he had a watch to tell himself how long it'd been since he fell asleep. From behind the box where he'd fallen asleep, he snuck a peek around the corner... and quickly regretted coming aboard this ship.

From what he could see, the largest black jaguar he'd ever seen was commanding two fourth-tier Felynn demons, Tailrings, to begin moving several of the boxes from the other room into here. Though it would give him a cover advantage, if either of the Tailrings came over in this direction and saw him, everything he'd done up to this point would be all for naught. Basically, this meant cramping his already tired muscles even further, and keeping himself incredibly quiet.

For about ten minutes, things seemed to go smoothly, until Nelius' empty stomach began to complain. When one of the light blue/green Tailrings walked in his direction, alerted by the sound of his growling stomach, it had been through some type of divine intervention that the jaguar had called them both back for something else.

"Thank... the... fucking...Lord!" He gasped, reaching into his bag and extracting the last pack of dried meat he had. Being careful not to make too much noise, he opened the package and devoured the contents. Having nowhere else to place it, he put the empty packaging wrapper back into his bag, reminding himself to dump off any trash and get himself a tent as soon as he could afford one. His clothing and other travel items most likely had the smell of dried, seasoned meat eminating from them.

With stretching out of the question, and his stomach satisfied, he fell back on the only option he had left: go back to sleep.

**MAKAI!**

In Sirea's Netherworld, news of Nelius' disappearance was spreading much faster than wildfire. Already, in many towns, search parties had been organized by Sirea's vassals in attempts to loacte him and drag him back to the Overlord's castle under any cirumstances. Needless to say, they had absolutely no luck at all, and this infuriated the her even further. Her sheer level of anger even caused Cera to back down in fear.

'How could he escape?!' Sirea's mind was being driven in circles, trying to figure out how he slipped past any of the guards and got away. 'I thought the mark had been perfect in sealing him up; did it wear off earlier than expected?' She mentally cursed herself for getting far too overconfident. 'No matter what, I have to find him and readminister that seal. It'll be the only way to bring him to reasonable levels.'

She went to begin administering a new reward for his finding.

**MAKAI!**

A stinging sensation brought Nelius out of his self-induced slumber. Realising it was coming from his right hand, hidden beneath his A-Knuckle glove, he removed said glove, revealing some kind of inked seal. Furthermore, it was directly over the scar he'd had since his childhood days. Removing the Shatter Gauntlet from his left hand, he set it on the floor next to him before licking his left thumb and rubbing over the ink.

45 minutes, one smudged shirt and one very raw thumb later, the ink was cleanly smudged away, perfectly revealing the scar on his hand. The outline was a burning red, and the shape itself seemed to take the form of a circle or ring; it didn't appear demonic or angelic, it was simply some kind of spherical shape. It appeared that the ink was suppressing the now eminating pain, but only to a certain degree.

Now that he'd had time to think on it, he never did notice the scar on his hand, not even when he took off his glove before.

'Must've been suppressed by the ink; was it some type of seal?' He hadn't any extra time to dwell on this; with a shudder, the ship had landed somewhere. 'Looks like we've set down.' Equipping his gloves, he was mentally prepared, but his cramped muscles demanded that he get up and stretch. Checking around the general area for anyone, he cautiously stood up and stretched himself, loosening up his tightened arms and legs before bending backward to work out any kinks in his waist. The sound of approaching footsteps told him to get back into his hiding spot before he got spotted.

A moment later, the jaguar, Brad, entered into the storage compartment of his ship, accompanied by his Tailrings, and they began moving most of the boxes from the front of the area toward the back, completely passing Nelius by

'Either they know of my location or they want me to watch.' Not too long afterwards, the loading door opened, spilling sunlight into the cargo hold, forcing Nelius to squint; his eyes had been adjusted to the artificial light for so long, the appearance of actual light caused his eyes to ache before adjusting.

"OK," Brad's voice filled the room. "Start unloading." This spelt near doom for Nelius.

'Crap!' He knew that if they moved the box, he'd be found out, and he didn't even dare begin to imagine what would happen to him. He couldn't move, lest one of the loaders spot him. A relatively large crate was situated near him, and he didn't have to think twice, though he would soon wish he did; the box he pried open then slipped into when nobody was around was full of catnip. The box was lifted up and out of the ship.

"Geez, Brad, how much catnip did you grab this time?" A female voice, likely belonging to one of the two Tailrings, asked.

"The normal amount for the experiments, why?" He asked his own question.

"Certainly doesn't feel like the regular shipment; it's like carting around a demon inside this thing." That statement made Nelius' hair stand on end. He just slipped into a box full of catnip; at least it explained the plants. The catnip shipment was passed from her to Brad.

"You're right. It's a bit heavier than when I grabbed it yesterday. Wonder what could be inside this thing?" He made a move to open the box, but hesitated. "We'll open it back at the greenhouse."

Nelius gave a mental sigh of relief. He would stay alive, if only for a few minutes longer. He could only hope they would listen before they turned him into their next meal.

**MAKAI! **

An hour later, the box of catnip Nelius was hiding in was transported to a greenhouse. Using the small hole in the side of the box, he took a look at the interior. Plants of all different origins and types were here under study.

'Science, perhaps?' The plants around the room seemed to flourish, and many of them gave off a scent of fresh fruit, though none of them, from what he could see, were bearing any fruit.

"Now, to see what's causing this crate to be so heavy." One of the Felynn took off the top, and gave Nelius the only chance he had to escape. "Hey, there's something in this crate!"

Nelius stood straight up, revealing himself to the number of Felynn.

"I am not what you think I am." Keeping a straight, smiling face, he waved to them. They all stared at him. "I am an illusion caused by the scent of the aged catnip inside of this box."

"Aged catnip?" One sounded skeptical. "I thought catnip was universally the same."

"Ah, but there is a subtle difference between each world's kind of catnip." The gave him strange looks. "In one world, you may require a lot of catnip to get the desired effect, while in another, just being within the radius of the catnip, as designed by the area of this greenhouse can cause the effects you are all seeing." He climbed out of the box

"If you are an illusion, how come you didn't just pass through the box? And explain why you're not a cat!" Another skeptic demanded.

"What, and ruin the fun? Even we illusions like to have fun, too!" Nelius put on a fake pout. "Heck, sometimes we even turn material just to visit the Earthly realms." He had said it before he had even realised it, thus digging himself into an even deeper hole. 'Aw, nuts. I just gave myself away.'

"Well, I'll just have to put that theory to..." As one of the Felynn demons approached him, the scent of the catnip radiating from his body, combined with his own body scent, flowed through her nostrils, causing her to stop and begin falling under the plant's effects as her face flushed and she began acting giddy. The situation repeated itself for most of the other cats, until the greenhouse took on the appearance of a 70's stonerhouse.

Not evn bothering to question his own good fortune, Nelius slipped out of the greenhouse, reminding himself to find some kind of water and wash the scent of the plant from himself as he took off into the thick foilage of the trees.

Barely a minute after he got away, Brad showed up, only to see the greenhouse full of Nekomatas that couldn't stand up straight. One of them, a dark blue-furred Cait Sith, managed to get to her feet and saunter over to him, albeit in a clumsy manner.

"Heeey, Braad," The catnip's effects were ever present on her flushed features as she put an arm around his shoulder in order to balance herself, "What took sooo long? You missed the parrty!"

"All right, who got into the catnip this time?" He had been dreading that question.

"Ahh, who cares, let's party!" She threw her hands into the air, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. Even after such a bump, she was still giddy.

Brad sighed to himself. Sometimes, there was absolutely no way to restrain them from getting into the stuff he reserved for his crossbreeding experiments. As he stepped into the room, careful not to step on any of the others, he picked up a small handful of the catnip he'd picked up and took a careful whiff. A lingering scent still remained on it; it was the scent of a humanoid, no doubt.

"He may hide, but he cannot run!" His eyes turned feral, but had a blue coloration.

**MAKAI!**

So ends another chapter.

For the record, one reviewer stated that it would be a good idea not to dwell much on the abilities of the character classes. I'm stating their abilities for those who have a limited knowledge of the game and the tiers of the characters to give an accurate description of what they look like, since each tier is the same sprite with a pallette swap.

I had to fix a little something in this chapter. Turns out the Tailring is fourth-tier, not third.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	5. On the run

My calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 5: On the run

Nelius ran and ran fast through the trees.

Things were already not off to a good start for him. He was already wanted property back in Sirea's Netherworld, and he was probably a wanted man here. He wanted to get a good start in this world, just not in this way. Hell, it could hardly be considered a start at all; he stowed away in a box of valued goods and, unknown to him, probably just pissed off the Overlord.

As he ran, he leaped over fallen trees, jumped over small rivers, and moved with such a ferocity that he apparently caused a few old trees to sway in the direction he ran. The one thing he probably didn't realise was that he had a visitor, or, more accurately, a stalker.

He stopped for a minute or two to catch his breath. He had been running nonstop for a good fifteen minutes, and it felt like his lungs were set aflame, then tossed into an incinerator.

"Huff... hff...I think.. I'm safe." He looked around the general area. "Someone tell me I'm through with the worst of it."

"You most certainly are." A female's voice called out from around him. "The best of it's just beginning!"

"What the.." He whipped his head around in all directions, but saw nobody. "Where'd that come from?"

"I'm right here, you naughty runaway." Nelius felt a finger trace around his jawbone, freezing him up completely. Someone had come up from behind him! His arms were tightly bound by the other person's, making struggling a losing battle. "We don't get this kind of excitement often." Whoever it was, she was either playing some kind of head game or attempting to flirt with him. "Now, what could cause you to come around here and cause this kind of trouble, hmm?" Her breath could be felt on the right side of his face, her chest pressing into his back. "Well? Ohh, don't be shy. I'm not going to bite... maybe just nibble a bit." That statement caused Nelius to burst free from her grip and speed off. She giggled to herself. "Oooh, I just love it when they play hard to get. Well, I know everything about this place. He may be able to run, but there's nowhere he can hide!" With a laugh, she gave chase.

Nelius was running, not even sparing a glance behind himself to see if that girl was chasing him. He already had one bad enough experience with a girl; he didn't need another one! Unfortunately for him, he never saw what was coming next, the miserable kid. Actually sparing a glance behind himself, he certainly ran -right into the waiting arms of the huntress he escaped earlier. With a mighty "Ommf!", he found his face firmly implanted into the Elbacky's chest.

"You're certainly a bold one, aren't you?" Nelius could only see a sea of dark and light brown fur. When he looked upward into the face of his captor, his eyes grew to the size of small plates, and he tried to escape, but to no avail. It was painstakingly obvious that she was a deal stronger than he was. "There's no need to rush, right?" She looked down at him, a wide grin spreading across her face. "Now, mind telling why you're here? I'm not going to hurt you."

Nelius just gave an audible sigh. He figured that, if at least one person was listening, he may as well spill his guts before he gets turned into demon sausage. Taking a deep breath, he began.

"I had to flee my Netherworld." The Elbacky's expression changed from one of amusement to one of concern. "For a while, things seemed OK. About three years ago, though, Sirea suddenly changed."

"Sirea?" She tilted her head in confusion.

"The Overlord of my home Netherworld. She actually used to be a rather fair person, until she headed off for this exploration.." he took another breath before continuing. "When she returned, she suddenly became... hell, for a lack of a better word, irritable." He closed his eyes, remembering everything that had transpired over the past three years. "For some reason, she started to become lenient... but only to her vassals; I was the one getting stuck with all of the dirty work. She makes Overlord Priere look human by comparison."

"Why do you think that is?"

"I'm... I'm just not sure, really." Any further conversation between them was cut short by the appearance of one of Brad's search squads. Startled by this turn of events, her grasp went limp, allowing Nelius the chance he had to turn tail and run.

Thusly, the chase was on. He ran on for such a distance, taking several turns here and there, trying to throw a good number of them off of his trail; he figured that an erratic trail would be tough to follow, right?

Wrong. No matter what kind of move he made, the chasing squad would match his every move. Knowing that he couldn't outrun them forever, he decided to take a different approach, hearing the sound of running water.

The squad of Felynn stopped at the edge of the wide river that was formed by the waterfall about six miles away.

"He's gone." One of them, a red and purple Werecat, looked around.

"How'd he lose us?" Another one asked.

"Well, he can't run off too far. Let's keep looking." As they ran off in a different direction, a telltale straw moved from behind a rock near the water's surface before Nelius popped up about two minutes later.

"Never... thought... that would work." He swam over to a small outcropping of rocks where he'd hidden his bag. Finding the immediate area to be safe, he climbed out of the water, wringing out his clothes as best as he could, then reached into his bag to grab his Journal.

**MAKAI!**

Nelius Log Journal August 21, 33XX

_I have made it to another Netherworld... but I think I pissed off a good number of the locals, including this gigantic black jaguar who appears to be the Overlord here._

_I'm just not sure how long I can keep on the run before I am caught. Most of the inhabitants here are Felynn, which making straight confrontation with them a near impossibility in my current state. Though one of them seemed interested in why I was here, I don't know if I can trust her completely yet. _

_I guess only time will tell. _

**MAKAI!**

He closed his Journal, noting that it was starting to finally get dark. If he wasn't too careful, this would mean that he could easily be captured. With his (still worn) clothing drted out some, he slung his bag over his shoulder and began hiking upstream. As he walked, he began to think on the events that had been going on: from popping out of that box to being chased into the thick foilage by a squad of cat demons.

Not at all the way he'd expected things to turn out; then again, when has anything ever turned out as someone expects it to go? It's one of the contemporary laws of the Universe, even in the Netherworlds.

Nelius just sighed, but he couldn't allow this to get him too far down; after all, he was here on his own personal mission. True, he did claim that he'd fled Sirea's Netherworld to find his own way in life, and he held his word to that, but there was another reason for him leaving.

"I don't care if it sounds impossible, I will find a way." His resolution was absolute; he wouldn't allow his status as a wanted man deter him from his true goal.

Finding a cave located near the waterfall, he decided to use that as a shelter for the night. The clouds above signaled a heavy portion of rain was on the way, with the 50/50 chance of lightning. Not even caring as to extract the pillow he'd swiped from his chamber in Sirea's castle, once he ventured deep enough into the cave, but close enough to see the entrance, he lazily tossed his bag onto the floor and flopped down on it, settling to sleep as the rain finally started coming down.

**MAKAI!**

Whew, chapters for this are really coming along at such a quick pace... wish I could do the same for my Legends story, but trying to focus on such a grand story is fairly tough.

Nevertheless, I won't be detered so easily.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	6. Unexpected

My calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 6: Unexpected

The rain was falling in heavy torrents, making travel by foot a near impossibility when combined with the raging wind and lightning storms. Add in the fact that it would still be dark outside for another hour or so, and you'd have a recipe for trouble. Luckily, Nelius was still asleep, his mind going over the events of the past few days, blissfully unaware of the fact that he had a visitor.

In his mind, his 'Dream Self' appeared again, but his feather wing had changed, integrating a few white and brown feathers, giving the wing a grayscale appearance. He lifted his left hand, which was equipped with the Shatter Gauntlet, and formed four small orbs of energy- red, green, blue, and yellow, each representing the four main elements of the Netherworlds: fire, wind, water, and star respectively. The small spheres then entered into the Gauntlet, making it glowing an iradescent color.

Outside of his dream, Nelius rolled over onto his left side, inadvertently pressing his head into something soft, almost pillow-like. Though he didn't wake up, the voice of his "companion" certainly brought him out of his sleepy haze.

"My my, someone's rather frisky in the morning, aren't they?" With just that statement, Nelius, eyes flew open with a sound comparable to a whip crack. His eyes drifted upward to see one very familiar face. "Small world, wouldn't you say?"

In under two seconds he was against the opposite side of the cave.

"Wha.. h-how'd you get in here?" His face was contorted into a mix of surprise and fear, mostly fear.

"Hun, I happen to use this cave as a little summer home, so you could say I live here." His face drained of all color; he never imagined the day that he'd walk into someone's home, even if it was a cave. "But, since it's raining out, you can keep me company. You don't have anything else to do, right?"

Nelius looked from her to the cave entrance. It was still coming down fairly heavy out there. Essentially, it was stay here and risk being eaten alive or leave and risk getting frozen to death. He gave a sigh.

"Looks like we're stuck here for a while, until the rain stops." The Elbacky decided to move closer to him, to make conversations a litle easier.

"You know, you're the first humanoid to ever set foot here." She said, watching the rain fall.

"Really?" That statement caught his interests.

"There actually used to be all different kinds of creatures that lived in this Netherworld. But, about five years ago, a good number of the monsters here just started disappearing."

"Disappearing? You mean, like just vanishing?"

"Exactly. One moment, I'm holding a conversation with one of the White Dragons, then he just disappears. This just continued until about two years ago when Brad, our reigning Overlord, took it upon himself to restore a lot of what had been lost over those three years. He's done a great job, but he really needs more variety in the creatures he's bringing in; over 90 percent of this world's population is nothing but Felynn demons."

"What of the other 10?"

"Mostly the other creatures that are native to the Netherworld. It's a real shame, though; aside from you showing up, there's rarely anything new around here. Most of the really good stuff happens in the central city."

"There's a city around here?"

"Brad managed to ressurect some old ruins and buildings from the previous Overlord's reign, and combined it with the technology he's gathered from other worlds. Though it's rare that we ever see him outside of the city boundaries while on this world; even when he is, he's only out of the bounds long enough to do something, then it's right back to the city for him."

"Sounds like he's forced to stay in the boundaires; you think it could be that his life is bound by the Netherworld?"

"I think it's the other way around... the Netherworld is bound by his life here. If he strays too far out of the bounds while here, this world would start to crumble apart."

"How do you figure that?"

"..." It was her turn to be at a loss for words. "Don't know, really. It just popped up." She decided to quickly make a quick subject change. Moving right next to him, she struck up a new conversation. "Well, as long as we're stuck in here, why don't we get to know each other a little better?"

"Say what?" He just gave her a WTF look.

"Since we're going to be holed up in here until the rain stops, I figured that this would be the best time to get to know you better. After all, you're going to be here for a while, right?" She had a look on her face that gave her a personal sense of victory.

"You're right. So, might as well get started." He didn't even attempt to resist. "So, exactly what kind of Netherworld was this before the reconstruction?"

"Aside from the city and Brad's spaceship, it's essentially remained the same, except that when the previous Overlord was here, there were a few actual humanoid demons. So, what about where you're from?"

"It's a basically standard Netherworld, with humanoids and monsters working alongside one another. There really isn't too much that really stands out there." He tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling of the cave. "Though, like I said yesterday, the Overlord started to become irritable about three years ago, when she came back from this exploration. She mentioned something about a..a.. Aw, damn."

"What's wrong?"

"I can't remember the name of the project she'd been conducting. All I remember of it is that the subject of the research began with the letter D."

"Don't worry too much about it, it's been years, right?" He nodded in confirmation. "Anyway, what are you going to do here?"

"I originally said I was going to leave Sirea's employ, but I find myself now believing it to be a ruse." He looked out at the torrents of rain still falling from the sky. "The real reason I left was to make myself stronger."

"Why?"

"Overlord Sirea used to be a really good Overlord, but ever since she came back from that trip, everything's started to go downhill. I couldn't bear it anymore. I guess I really wanted to find someone who can train me, not just to give Sirea a good ass-kicking and bring her back to the way she was, but to also.. in a way, complete myself." His Elbacky companion looked at him as he laughed. "I'm surprised at myself, I almost sound human with such sentiments."

"What makes you say something like that?"

"Ah, I'm probably just rambling again." The growling of his stomach brought about a whole new subject of talk. His face flushed a light color. "Whoops. I guess I haven't had too much to eat over the last few hours." He stood up and headed over to his bag. "You want anything?"

"No thanks. I'm good." The rumbling of her own stomach caused her face to flush a light pink color, though it was slightly darker than his blush. "Scratch that. You have anything good inside of that bag?"

"Let me check." Opening the bag, he took a look at what he had. His face blanched as he saw the mess that was strewn inside of the bag: wrappers of various products from the previous Netherworld littered the bottom, mixing with the unopened products and creating a mess. "Eh, do you know where I can find a local dumpster or something?"

"Excuse me?" She appeared comfused by his strange request.

"You know, a place where I can dump off some trash?"

"The only one I've known about was located near the city, from the previous Overlord's reign. As far as I know, it was closed off." Those had been the words Nelius had been dreading. From what she'd told him of this world, he figured out that he'd pissed off the Overlord and was possibly a wanted man. Add in the fact that the majority of the population was Felynn demons, and he figured that a trip to the city would be the end of him.

Though he didn't like those odds, nevertheless he had to get rid of the trash that was bogging him down, and possibly get some information while he was at it.

"Well, it appears as though I have no choice. I might not want to do this, but when the rain stops, I'm headed to that site to get rid of my unwanted trash." He dug through the bag, finding a good amount of still edible food hiding among the junk. For his gracious host, he got her a black bass that had cost him quite a bit back in the town of Midnight. For himself, he decided to grab a small bag of chips with a peanut butter sandwich.

As they ate, he was busy formulating a plan as to how he could get to the sealed off site in order to lighten his load. When he turned his attention to his companion to ask how her breakfast had been, his face drained of all color for the second time.

The Elbacky's face was heavily flushed. She swayed back and forth, much in the same matter as the other Felynn back at that grenhouse yesterday. When Nelius checked the bag again, he found several sprigs of catnip scattered throughout the bag.

"Saaay.." When he looked up, he found himself staring right into her face. "I ever tell you how cute ya look?" She had a semi-dreamy expression on her face, a clear sign that she was influenced by the plant. He tried to back away, but she tackled him to the floor, her tail swishing back and forth. "Wanna wrestle?"

He was going to be in for quite a hell of a day.

**MAKAI!**

So ends another chapter. If anyone has a good name for the Elbacky, feel free to send in a name. I may just use it in a future chapter.

Until Next Chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	7. Decision

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 7: Decision

As the effects of the catnip wore off after an hour or so, the Elbacky seemed perfectly content to settle down for a catnap, leaving Nelius enough time to recuperate from her "playfullness". He breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for the peace from her playing. Sitting a good distance from her, he began to think on what he was planning to do next. He already knew that he had to get rid of most of the junk in his bag, but from what she'd told him, the city was crawling with more Felynn, and they might not be as open-minded as this one was.

Looking outside, he noticed that the rain was still falling, but in a lesser amount than a few hours ago, turning into a light mist.

'Not the nicest weather, but I'll take my chances." Getting to his feet, Nelius grabbed his bag and exited the cave, retracing his steps back toward the greenhouse. He figured that he could use the building as a marker point while he made his way through the deep expanses of trees. Close to an hour later, when he found the greenhouse, he saw something rising out from the trees; going to check on what it was, he deadpanned at the sight.

"You've got to be kidding me." Just a short distance from the greenhouse was the city the Elbacky had told him about. As he walked into the city limits, he took notice of the general layout. Many of the older buildings had similarities to old 5th to 6th century structures, while the recently made ones had a more modern feel. Standing right in the middle of the city was a large, towerlike structure; the Overlord's keep, no doubt. "Now, where's that dumpsite at?" As he turned to go in one direction, he found himself in a very familiar predicament, involving his headlong stroll into a place only the most bold would ever attempt to enter.

"I'm disappointed in you." For those who guessed that he ran into the Elbacky from earlier; more specifically, her chest, you'd be correct. "I treat you to a home, and you run off without even saying goodbye?" She peered down at him. "Well, I can certainly see what it is you're planning, but you'll be lost without me to guide you."

"How do you figure that?" He asked, looking up at her.

"This city's rather big. Unless you know where it is you're going, you'll end up running around in circles. Believe me, it took me a while to remember the layout of this place." She winked at him. "So, still planning on heading for that sealed off site?"

"Unless I want to walk around with a bag of discarded wrappers, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Being released from her grip, he followed her through an intricate part of the city, passing old structures marked for demolition. She was explaining about much of the history behind the ruins before Brad ressurected them and began expanding, but his mind was elsewhere; more importantly, on what he would do from this point on. 'As far as I know, I'm probably some type of wanted man here now. This is going to make getting any future supplies difficult.'

"Hey, we're here." She called to him, pointing at the large brick structure. It appeared to have no windows, being thickly built for holding in whatever was in there, and looked as though it couldn't be entered.

"OK, how do I get in?" He had to ask.

"From the roof." She answered as though it was the most obvious thing.

**MAKAI!**

On top of the structure, the Elbacky was holding open the hatch for Nelius so he could dump out all of the wrappers and other trash. Sifting through the bag, he extracted his Journal, pillow, sheet and what remained of his salvageable food before dumping everything else into the old structure, then placing the aformentioned items back into his bag and slinging it over his back.

"Finally, that's the end of that. Let's get out of here." With his statement, she closed the hatch and used one arm to grab him around the waist before jumping down and setting him on the ground. "Next time, do warn me before you do that!" His voice was a bit shaky.

"Well, most of this place was created with the idea of us Felynn in mind." She reminded him. "You're going to need some serious training if you want to be able to keep up with us."

"You've got a point. Well, hell, most of the reason I'm here is to train myself. Question is, where to start?"

"You can start by answering to me." Turning around, they came to face a large jaguar; the Overlord, Brad.

"O-overlord Brad?!" She squeaked. This had been the first time she'd seen him in person.

"You've caused quite a good amount of trouble here, young man." He eyed Nelius. "Though no normal humanoid has stepped foot here in about three years, you've actually caught me in a bit of a dilemma, so I'm feeling... generous."

"Huh?" If there's one thing Nelius didn't like, it was the look on Brad's face.

"Come with me. We shall have much to discuss." He began walking toward the center of town.

**MAKAI!**

Inside of the Overlord's keep, many thoughts were running through Nelius' mind, ranging from "What's going to happen now?" to "I'm so screwed!". As he walked down the hall, following Brad, he tried to take his mind off of the current situation by glancing around at the sides of the hall, seeing several other Felynn, along with a minute number of other monsters, working on things inside of the other rooms. They paused for a moment to take a look at Nelius, then went back to work.

"Enter through this door." Brad paused at a door. "I'll see you on the other side."

Shrugging, Nelius opened the door and stepped in, revealing a room filled to the brim with nothing but Felynn, apparently acting as some form of jury.

'Oh, great. My fate is left in the paws of these cats. Go figure.' He thought.

True to his word earlier, Brad entered into the room from the opposite set of doors, seating himself immediately.

"Now, then. Mind explaining as to why you stowed away upon my ship?" His question was straight to the point.

"It was either play stow away or return to a life of forced labor. Take a pick." His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but the answer was mostly to the point.

"And just what was meant by that?"

"About three years ago, the Overlord of my home Netherworld started to become a real bitch-- no offense toward anyone who might take that personally." Brad's expression changed to one of curiousity. "I decided to head to another Netherworld and train myself so I could head back and give her a long overdue ass-kicking." At this point, many of the other cat demons began to talk amongst themselves in light of this new information.

"So, you propose to stay here for a length of time until you can defeat the Overlord of your Netherworld?"

"Exactly. When I know the time is right, I'll head back and beat her."

From the almagation of Felynn, one of them, a Bastet, stood up from her seat and walked up to Brad, handing him a slip of paper with their verdict. He took it, looking it over, then nodding.

"Well, despite the events of the last two days, you will be permitted to stay on this world--" Nelius looked at him. "--but, you will have to fulfill a request."

"What would that be?" He felt apprehensive.

"Simple. As you know, most feline species have a rather intense dislike for water."

"And just how does that relate to me?"

"Beneath this city, there is a great energy source, with four entrances into an underground realm. Unfortunately, three of these entrances are underwater, with the fourth only openable from the other side."

"Oh, I get it. You want me to swim through one of those three entrances and open up the fourth so you can start extracting the energy source?"

"You catch on quick. Any other questions?"

"Only one. When do I begin?"

"You will begin tomorrow morning."

**MAKAI!**

_Nelius Journal Log August 23, 33XX _

_Well, this place isn't as bad as I would've initially imagined. Despite having mostly Felynn, they're actually good-natured, if not a little teasing at times. _

_My new mission as of tomorow is to swim through one of three submerged entrances so I can open the only other way in that isn't waterlogged. To this day, I never did find out why cats can't stand getting wet; I guess it's just something they can't explain. _

_Strangely, I felt as though I once knew the Overlord of this world... maybe in a past life? As if. _

_Now that I think about it, I should've asked that Elbacky for her name so I could properly thank her for allowing me to crash in her cave for the night. Eh, I'll probably end up meeting her along the way._

**MAKAI! **

Nelius closed his Journal, sliding it back into his bag.

The room Brad had allowed him to use for the night felt more like a hotel suite. With a full bedroom, bathroom, satellite TV, and kitchen, there wasn't anything he could complain about... scratch that. He had one question earlier:

"Why the heck is the bed round?"

"It's because we cats curl up at night as we sleep." Brad pointed this out before he left to attend other matters.

'Well, it made sense, so I shouldn't make too much of a deal out of it.' He flopped backward onto the mattress. 'Even if it's only for tonight, this place beats out the old cot I had back at Sirea's.' He took a deep breath, noticing the cleanliness of the night air. 'But, what was it that caused her to change all of a sudden? No matter, once I start training, I'll head back and give her one long overdue ass-kicking. That should bring her to her senses.'

This was his last thought as he drifted off to sleep.

**MAKAI! **

So ends another chapter. By the way, I'm extending last chapter's offer until chapter 8 or 9: if anyone who can come up with a good name for the Elbacky, feel free to send it in. If it's used, you will be given credit.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	8. Exploration

My calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborugh

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 8: Exploration

Nelius awoke with the rising sun, ready to get his exploration underway. From what he remembered of his mission today, he was to go diving through one of three underwater entranceways which would lead him to beneath the city. From there, he would open the only above ground entrance so Brad's forces would be able to extract the special energy source that was located down there.

'Good thing I can swim.' He thought as he did a few morning stretches, loosening up his tired muscles, including his wings. 'From when I get into the underground area, finding the above ground entrance should be easy.' With his muscles warmed up, he headed out to get a quick beite to eat, as well as suit up for this mission.

**MAKAI! **

Back in Nelius' home Netherworld, the search for him had hit a big stall. With no leads, the searches felt more like a wild goose chase with each passing day.Needless to say, Sirea was becoming furious, going off into tirades that obliterated several parts of the castle.

"M-mistress Sirea?" A lone thief was the only one brave enough to address her.

"What is it?" She snapped back.

"I.. I found some information on his last seen whereabouts." This new development brought Sirea's temper to a quick stop. "About a day ago, someone from the town of Midnight stated that someone who looked like Nelius entered the RosenQueen Branch. After that, he left the town, heading eastward."

"Good. For once, one of my vassals are actually competent." She turned her head toward a scout who had found a corner to stand in. "Vicks. Send a message to the units I have stationed there." The scout, not wanting to make his Overlord angry, was up and out of the room in the blink of an eye. "As for the rest of you-" She turned back to her other vassals.. "- Don't just stand there! Spread out and continue searching!" In less that two seconds the castle was devoid of any vassals that didn't have a designated job. With them gone, Sirea rose from her throne and stood out on her balcony, which overlooked a great deal of this Netherworld.

"He is a crafty one, isn't he?" Sirea turned around to see a young man with light hair. "He seems to know all of your vices."

"Who do you think you are?" Her temper flared up at seeing this man act so calm. "What business do you have here?"

"Simple. At this rate you're going, you will never, ever be able to find him."

"How do you know that?!" She began to approach him. "Are you withholding information?"

"Why, not at all." He just grinned. "If I was, wouldn't I be shredded to bits just now?"

"Spare me the theatrics; tell me what you know." Her hand went toward an Infernal Blade she kept.

"Oh, just this." He stepped back, allowing his body to fade into the shadow of one of the pillars. "Your search is in vain. By the time you've gotten this message, it'll be far too late for you to do anything."

She withdrew the blade and sliced at him, but she'd been too slow. He simply faded away, the phantom that he was.

**MAKAI! **

His stomach content, Nelius noticed that he didn't have much that would be appropriate for a swimming mission.

'No problem, I'll just do what I've always done: wing it.'

As he headed over to get his gauntlet (he removed it before he headed to sleep, keeping his A. Knuckle glove on his right hand), he noted that he'd left the window open. It wasn't a very large gap, but someone could've opened it up and easily gotten in.

'No wonder it was so chilly. Better go close that.' As he did so, he heard a knock at his door. "It's open." In walked a Nekomata carrying some kind of box.

"This just came in for you. Speaking of which, does anyone know you're here?" She questioned.

"As far as I know, I'm the only one who knows I'm here. Either way, I'll take that." Taking the box from her and giving a thanks, she left as he opened it up, revealing a white sphere. "What in the... is this someone's idea of a prank?" Enclosed with it was some type of note.

**MAKAI! **

_Nelius,_

_I hope these days have found you well, for all is not so well here. Sirea has just gained wind of your disappearance, and has been ripping your home Netherworld apart in a bid to find you. Though I cannot comprehend as to why she is after you, I fear that she may be planning to do something rather horrifying. _

_Enclosed in this package is one of two special artifacts. Although I regret not being able to be here in person to explain its ability, I do have confidence that you will figure out this item's significance. _

_Uncle D _

**MAKAI! **

"Uncle... D?" Things just kept getting weirder and weirder. Regardless, he had a mission to complete. Nelius pocketed the sphere and stepped out of his room, heading downstairs and outside, where a ship that would function as transport would send him to his location.

"Well, you getting in or what?" The driver of the ship, oddly a Wood Golem, called to him.

"Whoa, never knew Wood Golems could drive." He was quite surprised.

"Don't ask, just get in." With Nelius boarding, the ship was already on its way toward the drop off point.

"Ah, good, you're here." A Ghost greeted Nelius. "I'm here to give you a last minute briefing on what you're supposed to be doing."

"Uh, I already have knowledge on what I need to do." Nelius quickly snapped. "I dive in through the underwater entrance, and from there I head for the above ground door and open it up from there. What more do I need to know?"

"First off, the entrance we're using happens to be the furthest from the city, mostly because it's the only one that doesn't have a powerful underwater current flowing through it. Second off, the underground city may be filled with monsters, so Brad has provided you with this." He handed three items over to the yound demon. "It's a custom made lightweight Majin Armor with a rebreather. Since the underwater passage is quite long, you'll be needing this. Oh, and this watch has a map-creation device, so you can chart the underground area."

"All right." By the time he got it fitted, the ship had stopped at the drop off point, which was on the far east side. "So, this is where I go diving."

"Essentially. I'll not waste anymore time, get going." With that, Nelius climbed onto the roof, then jumped into the water, his rebreather affixing itself onto his mouth.

For a good five minutes, he swam, taking in note of the passage he was swimming through. From what he could ascertain, the land around it had either been eroded away, or had been disrupted by some kind of force, probably fighting. Another fifteen minutes later, he finally broke the surface of the water, looking at the underground city with some help from the demonic sphere he got back on his home Netherworld. There were a few old, ruined buildings down here with nary a creature in sight.

'Bet anything they're in hiding.' He cautiously walked through the ruins, keeping his eyes open for any sights of monsters. Checking the map on his watch, a hologram appeared, showing the relatively small area he'd mapped out. With only the entrance he'd used and the few structures on his map, he had a _lot_ of walking to do. "This is not my day."

Jump ahead two hours later, and he had fleshed out a good amount of the map, finding the other two underwater passages, but still missing the only above ground one.

"There's only one way it could lead upward." Catching on, he started to search around a few of the buildings for any secret buttons, beleiving that many of the taller ones would lead upward. Jump ahead another hour and thirty minutes, and he'd exhausted each one in the area, finding absolutely nothing. "Damn it. Where is that path?" His outburst didn't uncover the path but instead awoke a Great Wyrm, a cousin to the Dragon, who was quite annoyed to be awoken from his nap. Getting up, it scanned the area, seeing the one who woke him up. With a loud, mighty roar, it launched a powerful blast of energy from its mouth, the Astral Burst.

"What was that?" Turning around upon hearing the roar, he had about a second before the blast would incinerate him. Next thing he knew, he was a good twenty meters away from the impact without a single scratch on him. "Did I just..." He didn't have much time to dwell on the situation, mostly because the Wyrm was coming straight for him. With another roar, it launched a gigantic column of flame that rose from the ground, right from beneath Nelius' feet. Bracing himself, it came as quite the surprise when he noticed that he felt the impact from the blast, but was unaffected by the flames. "Wha... how in the world?" Despite this, the Wyrm decided that if its flames wouldn't work, then its fists would, and began running toward Nelius, ready to deliver a punishing blow. Finally uncovered from the flames, Nelius saw the Wyrm charging straight for him, and had in idea in mind. Mere seconds before it could deliver the blow, he flipped backwards, launching himself into the air, then quickly charged up energy in his hands before firing it as a punishing beam of explosive energy-- the Lion's Roar.

When the dust settled, the Wyrm had breathed its last.

'Must've been a child to go down so easy. Hope there aren't too many more around here.' He thought as he continued his exploration. Walking along, he felt something metallic beneath his shoe. Looking down, there was a set of mine cart tracks-- from the previous Overlord's reign, no doubt. Question is, would they lead him back to the surface or further down? "Only one way to find out, then." Choosing to head to his right, Nelius followed the tracks.

**MAKAI! **

Back in the City Hall, Brad was starting to grow impatient.

"It's been three hours, and still no word from him." Despite his current workload, which had been focusing on the energy shortage that had been in effect for the past few months, his mind was still fixated on Nelius' mission. "What the hell could be taking him so long?"

"Well, those ruins must be as big as the city is." A Mothman who was working with the Ovelord commented. "I'll bet that he's either lost or dead, eaten by one of the monsters underground."

"I thought you were supposed to be the optomistic one?"

"Hey, I tell it like it is. No sense in keeping hopes too high."

**MAKAI!**

"Holy crap." Nelius' eyes grew extremely wide at the sight.

The set of tracks had lead him down to a cavern completely overrun with large, rose-colored crystals. 'This must be the energy source Brad was mentioning.' Placing his hand over one of the crystals, he felt enormous amounts of power pulsating from them. Pocketing two of them, he turned around and began following the tracks back the same way he came.

Come an hour later, the tracks began leading upward toward the surface. "Finally. I can get out of here." Seeing a large set of double doors where the tracks ended, he noticed an odd insignia on it; it appeared to be some kind of blue six-pointed star, though the downward spike was significantly longer than the others. Raising his arm, he began to push on the right door. Push finally came to shove, as the old door slowly began opening. Imagine the surprise on Nelius' face when he realized where he ended up.

"Good to see you, Nelius." Brad was standing right there. "Surprised?"

"You didn't tell me the last route was through here!"

"But, I did say it was above ground, correct? Either way, you've helped to bring an end to the energy shortage we've been facing for several months. Now, thanks to you, we can begin mining the Makai Rose Crystals that grow beneath this city."

"You mean these?" Nelius pulled out the two he grabbed while underground.

"Exactly those. But first, come with me." Turning around, Brad began heading for the his Keep again.

Once there, the upright jaguar motioned for the demon to follow him to his personal office, where he took a paper document that had been on his desk, and showed it to Nelius.

"I just need for you to place a fingerprint on this document." He explained. Nelius did so, and an image of the six-pointed star appeared for a moment before dispersing. "With this, you are officially considered a citizen of this Netherworld. You're free to come and go as you wish."

"All right." A new step toward Nelius' final goal has just been taken. As he headed back toward his room, his mind was abuzz with this new development. 'Now that I'm considered a citzen of this Netherworld, at least I won't have to worry about being randomly jumped for being an offworlder. This will make training much easier, at least until I can become strong enough to give my old boss a good straightening out.'

Arriving at his provided room, he wasted no time in closing the door before removing the armor and flopping down on his bed. Even if it was broad daylight outside, he figured that he could use a quick..

He laughted silently to himself as he slowly drifted off to sleep, the next word echoing through his mind.

'Catnap.'

**MAKAI! **

Whew. Between trying to locate work and such other stuff, I never thought I'd have so much time to work on this.

I know I should also focus some attenion onto my MML fic, but lack of interest combined with laziness in general have pushed it toward the back of my thoughts. I will eventually finish it up, though.

The little 'Reviewer's Extra from last chapter (good name for the Elbacky) will officially be over by the time I post Chapter 9. If you've got any good ideas, feel completely free to send them in. Those who do submit ideas will be given proper credit.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	9. Nightmare come true

My calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 9: Nightmare come true

As the sun of this Netherworld set, Nelius found himself immersed in his dreams, this time showing him standing in front of what appeared to have been an old shrine or temple. Much of the place had taken some kind of damage, from some type of bladed weaponry, as far as he could tell.

'Why am I seeing all of this?' He wondered, but no answers seemed to come to him. He stepped into the temple, seeing the ruined walls, almost as if a battle had been waged here. Only one wall remained intact: it depicted some kind of winged being confronted by a person who wielded two spheres in each hand.

'Strange... I've never seen this place; why do I see it now?' Upon taking a closer look at the mural on the wall, he could barely make out feathers in the wings of the being. As for the sphere wielder, one sphere was black while the other was white. What did this all mean? Unfortunately, Nelius' dream was cut rather short.

In the real world, he rolled over from one side to the other, burrowing his head into his pillow, which, all of a sudden, became a lot softer to the touch. Now that he'd thought about it, it felt much warmer, too.

"Aww, I think he likes me!" A familiar voice chirped. "Cute!" That was enough for Nelius' eyes to open at an incredible speed as he looked at his "pillow". "Hi there, sleep well?" In less time than it took for the average person to blink, he was already out of bed and against the far wall.

"Okay, how in the hell did you get in here?" He pointed a finger at the Elbacky who managed to sneak into his room in the dead of night.

"Oh, you left the window open." She answered nonchalantly.

"Ah. Whoa, hold it! How'd you get in if the window was closed?"

"Did you ever lock the window? You know, that usually deters window raiders." Boy, I bet you anything he felt like an idiot now. "Anyway, how'd you audience with Brad go?"

"Aside from the exploration he had me do just a few hours ago, rather well. As of today, I'm a free man." Whatever he was about to say next was stopped right then on the spot, as he saw a mischievous glint in her eyes. Usually, whenever someone got that glint in their eyes, it would spell certain trouble for him. 'Uh oh. I think I said too much.'

"So, you're free to do as you like?" She just grinned at him, inching closer and closer.

"Uh..uh, yeah." If he pressed himself any further into the wall, he might've created a stress indent.

"Good." She let that word hang for a moment as she traced his jawbone with one of her fingers. "You know, this Netherworld's pretty big. What say that we.." She cut herself off as her right ear twitched for a minute. "Oh, darn. I have to go." She leaned over and whispered in his ear. "See you later." She winked at him before opening his window and leaping off into the night.

He slid to the ground, his heart racing so fast it nearly threatened to burst out of his chest. He let out one very shaky breath.

'I swear, she's trying to give me a heart attack.'

**MAKAI! **

"Never'd have guessed that Brad had a RosenQueen extension here." Nelius exited the aformentioned We carry anything and everything store. 'Though, I swear that cashier was making a pass at me.' Regardless, he had a lot of work ahead of him, and he couldn't afford to be so easily distracted if he was to defeat his former boss.

Knowing that there was more to this Netherworld than just the Felynn inhabitants, he decided to buy himself a Star Shatter for his right hand, in case he did have to fight.

Already a good distance north from the town, he was ready to begin practicing the moves that kept returning to him in his dreams, when he heard something rustling near him. Keeping his guard up, he took a quick peek through some foilage. Standing in the small clearing was the strangest Nekomata he'd seen yet. Her hair was a dark pink, nearly red in color, and her fur was a slinky black. To top it off, her eyes had the most piercing shade of red available. She looked around the area, mumbling something about incompetent hirelings before heading in the direction of town.

'Must be a new arrival.' Nelius thought. 'That Elbacky did say that Brad tends to attract Felynn classes the most... no matter. Back to work.' As he headed further north, the appearance of that Nekomata still nagged at his mind. 'Still, I could swear that I've seen that color scheme somewhere before... where, though?' A little further along, and he happened to come upon some strange creatures. They appeared to be stuffed penguins with demon wings and peg legs.

"Just what are Prinnies doing on this world?" Nelius questioned, approaching the purple birds.

"Ah, just our luck, dood." One of the Prinnies said.

"You see, we happen to be looking for someone. Can you help us out, dood?" The second one asked.

"Depends. Who are you two looking for?"

"Our boss. She has black fur and pink hair."

"Well, I suppose you're in luck, then. I just saw her go back that way a few minutes ago." Nelius jerked a thumb behind himself. "If you hurry, you should be able to catch up."

"Thanks. See you later, dood." The Prinnies thanked him before running off.

"Huh, does Brad allow Prinnies on this world?" He just watched them run off. "I'll have to ask him about that when I head back." As he turned around to continue walking... well, if you've been following along with what happens every time he turns to go somewhere without looking...

"You know, we have to stop meeting like this." Yep, the poor guy walked right into that one. "And yes, he does allow Prinnies on this world. How else does he get most of his work done?"

Nelius freed himself from her grip. "OK, what are you after this time?"

"Me? Nothing at all." She was playing the innocent act. "Why could you ever ask such a question?"

"Well, answer this: why were you in my room back there?"

"Oh, I just needed a place to crash."

"Oh, and you couldn't have used another room?"

"What, and miss seeing the look on your face to waking up to such a beauty like me?" I doubt he could come up with a response to that one.

"I'm not even going to respond to that one." See, what did I tell you? "Either way, why are you all the way out here?"

"Oh, _that_. Brad needs to have a few words with you. He said it was pretty urgent."

"In that case, why didn't you say so?"

"You didn't ask." Cue the facefall.

"Never mind. Let's get going."

**MAKAI! **

"Good to see the both of you." Brad greeted as they walked into his room.

"Ok, just what is it you wanted to see me about?" Nelius was getting straight to the point.

"Simple." He practically leaped over the desk, grabbing onto the front of Nelius' shirt, his face changing to a pleading look. "You have to help me!"

Concerned, but mostly freaked out at this sudden change in Brad's demeanor, the non-Felynn demon could barely do much except ask. "Uh, just what has you scared shitless all of a sudden?"

"_Her_." He finally let go of Nelius.

Nelius looked over to the Elbacky. "Granted, she freaks me out a little.." This earned him a furry fist upside the head.

"No, not the Elbacky. _Her_."

"Her who? Give me some details." He rubbed the area of his head that had been impacted from the Elbacky's fist.

"You see, some five hundred years ago, this girl manages to save me from becoming a BBQ'd cat."

"All right, go on."

"Well, I repayed her by giving her some of this special mineral that used to form on my home Netherworld."

"And just how does this cause a problem?"

"I'm getting to that!" Brad snapped. "Anyway, some years later, I notice that she begins following me around. At first, I'm not thinking anything of it, but later it started getting worse."

"Lemme guess, kid tries sneaking into your place?"

"Worse, she succeeded." Cue the surprised faces. "Afterwards, she even begins trying to set up marriage proposals with me!"

"All that stems from you repaying her for saving you?!" Nelius couldn't beleive it. "Damn, that kid must be persistent. What was in that stuff you gave her?"

"I did some research on the mineral I gave her, and it actually turns out to be a special type of rare gemstone that is given between people who share an emotional bond."

"Great, I see where this is going. An act of kindness gone horribly misinterpreted. Go figure. But, there's a part of the picture that's missing here. How exactly are we supposed to know who this girl is if we don't know that much about her?"

"Oh, that's easy. Here." Brad handed Nelius some kind of document with a matching picture. "That sheet has some information on her, and the picture has an estimation on her appearance."

"Let's see... travels with a band of Prinnies, dresses in black, has light red hair... hold on a minute. This sounds way too much like that Demon Lord, Etna."

"Hm?" Brad took a closer look at the sheet. "Whoops, sorry! Wrong piece." He took the sheet and picture, replacing them with the correct ones. "Here's the correct information."

"Well, I don't know wether to call this luck or unfortunate timing. According to this stuff, I just saw said person about an hour or two ago, before..." When he looked up from the sheet, Brad was gone. "What the..."

"He bolted." She pointed toward the open window, which gave a nice view of the city, and near the border sat Brad's custom ship, The Phantom Cat, Mark 2.

"Man, to think a kid like this can scare an Overlord..." He thought about that statement for half a second. "Wait, this is the Netherworld, what the hell am I saying?!"

"Either way, we better make sure he doesn't run into too much trouble."

"Meh, I'm not worried. If he can run an entire world filled to the brim with Felynn, there shouldn't be anything that can cause that much trouble for him."

**MAKAI! **

In the city, Brad was running for his life, especially from that crazed girl he just described.

I'll bet you're probably thinking, 'If this guy's an Overlord, why doesn't he just banish that crazy girl from his Netherworld', right? Trust me on this, when it comes to trying to banish something that can pull practically every trick in the book, plus some that haven't even been put into print yet, and has been stalking you for half an millenium in order to find out everything, and I do mean _everything_ about you including, but not limited to: strengths, weaknesses, favorite and most despised things; even if you're an Overlord, you'll have your hands full.

"OK, there's my ship." He was dashing at least 386 Km/H toward that ship. "If I can just make it up to the deck, I can.." For those who would think that at this point he would be blindsided by the girl in question, or make it to his ship without much problem, then encounter said person, they'd be wrong.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!"

The classic pitfall trap. Not even obnoxiously rare male cat-demons are immune to such tricks.

**MAKAI!**

Whew, another chapter comes to a close. Heh, once I put this chapter up, my friend, who has been constantly questioning me about when this chapter would come up, will probably try to kill me. Then again, I just had to place this cliffhanger just for him.

Until Next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	10. Confront the Past

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 10: To confront the past

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!"

"Uh oh. Brad's in serious trouble!" The Elbacky immediately looked in the direction of the scream.

"Either that, or a truck just backfired." That joke caused her to give Nelius another furry fist upside his head. "Oww! It was a joke."

"Quit clowning around. We need to go lend him a hand."

"All right." He rubbed the bruise on his head. 'Damn. I'm getting the third degree from a cat!' The both of them rushed down the stairs and out of Brad's Keep, heading in the direction of Brad's yell.

"How's the view from above?" While the Elbacky had taken to the streets, Nelius had decided to give his wings some much needed exercise, and took to the skies.

"Not too good. I'm not seeing anything that could tell us about-- what's that?" He noticed some kind of indentation in the street. Slowing down, he dropped down to the street in order to take a closer look. "I don't think cracks like this form naturally."

"What makes you say that?"

"I wonder." Going over to the side of the road, he picked up a fairly heavy stone and dropped it right on the crack. It gave way, revealing an open shaft. "Thought so. I'd say our friend wanted to give Brad a nice trip."

"Still, using a pitfall? That's one of the most cliche tricks anyone can pull."

"Eh, who cares? we know where he disappeared to, so let's go save his furry behind." They dropped down, landing in one fairly familiar area. "Well, ain't this a blast? We're in the Underground City."

"This is it?" Having never seen it for herself, the Elbacky could do little but marvel at the sight of the perfectly preserved structures. "I never thought it would look like this."

"We can come back and gawk at it all you like at a later time. Right now, saving Brad's priority _numero uno_."

**MAKAI! **

"Finally, after all these years, I found you, Brad."

Wasting no time, the black Nekomata had an unconscious Brad chained to the stone wall, a strange device planted on his chest.

'With this new mixture I ordered from the Makai Shopping Network, all I have to do is tilt it into his mouth and down his throat, then he'll...'

"DOOD! we got trouble!" A Prinny interrupted her gloating. "Intruders, Dood!"

She turned around, severly pissed at being disrupted. "Don't sweat it. We've got numbers on our side. Now deal with them."

"Aye aye, dood. We'll take care of them." He about faced and headed back.

"Damn Prinnies, always interrupting me in the middle of something." She turned back to her prize. 'Now, once I have him drink this, he will, at last, finally admit...'

"DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! I DON'T GET PAID ENOUGH FOR THIS!!!" There was the sound of multiple explosions.

"What's going on now?!" She stormed out of the room where she had Brad held. What awaited her was the sight of several charcoaled Prinnies in the hall. "What the hell happened?"

"I beleive, we happened." Nelius and the Elbacky stepped out of the smoke caused by the detonated penguins.

"You.. decimated all of those Prinnies?!" The black-furred Nekomata asked.

"Well, Prinnies aren't exactly the most reliable guards." Nelius retorted, a cocky grin on his face. "Next time, you might want to try investing in Golems or Gargoyles. They work wonders... and don't become living bombs when tossed."

"I don't care who you are, you'll not stand in my way. I've been waiting over 500 years for this moment, and I've come too far to let it be ruined."

"Too bad. Our current job is to ruin your little moment." The Elbacky quipped.

"Well, I've got a surprise for you both. Surprise!" She tossed down some kind of small cylinder, producing a blinding flash.

"Shit! A Flash Grenade!" Both of them had been momentarily blinded, allowing her to escape. Since their eyes had adjusted to darkness, the flash of light was particularly harsh on them both.

"Tata!" As the light died down, they saw that she'd made her escape, having already unchained Brad and disappeared.

"Damn! We lost her." He snarled.

"I think not, Nelius. Look." The Elbacky pointed toward the ground, where several tracks were still imprinted into the dirt that settled onto the floor. "She hasn't won yet. If we hurry, we can still catch up to her."

"Uh, tell me this.. how do tracks run straight into a wall?" He leaned against the wall, inadvertently pressing in a brick, which slid back part of the wall, showing a shortcut. She started to grin. "Not a word." They dashed down the passage. "You know, I get the feeling we're heading downward instead of up." The slope began getting severely steep. "Uhh, I can't stop!"

"Neither can I, and I'm used to this kind of stuff." They both were being forced down the hill at incredible speed. When Nelius hit a wall, she slammed into him, causing part of the wall to revolve.

"WHHOOOAA!!"

**MAKAI! **

"Who'd ever think that Brad would carry such a beautiful ride like this?" The Nekomata sat at the helm of the ship, looking over the controls of the Phantom Cat Mark 2. "Now, if I can just find out which is the ignition, I can get out of here. Say, dear, which is the ignition?" She turned to look at him, only to remember that he was unconscious. "Oh, right. Maybe the catnip-laced mace was a bit much."

In the lower half of the ship... 

"WHHOOOAA!!"

Nelius and the Elbacky had somehow tumbled through the wall and into the Phantom Cat; more specifically, the Engine Room.

"How in the heck did we end up here?"

"Beats me. Either way, we know where Brad was taken, so let's go save him."

"Right." They ran down the hall, up some stairs, and past some rooms, one of which caught Nelius' eye. "Oooh, Training Room." When the Elbacky realized that he wasn't following and was drawn to the aformentioned room, she backtracked and grabbed him by his hair, dragging him along with her. "Ow, OW OWW! Watch the hair!"

"Would you rather have me yank you by the ear?" She said it in such a calm, sweet tone.

"Uh, no. Hair's good. YahAhhAhh!"

**MAKAI! **

"Ohh, ohhhh... wha happened? Why does my head hurt?" Brad finally came to. Sitting up, and trying to shake the dizziness from his head, he noticed several things. One, he was inside of his ship. Two, the black-furred Nekomata was trying to fiddle with the ship. Three, there was some kind of mixture sitting nearby.

"Good morning, handsome." The Nekomata turned her head to him. "Buckle up, Brad, cause in a few minutes, we're taking our honeymoon!"

"WHAT?! We're not even..." He didn't dare say the next word.

"Oh, we aren't... at least, not at this moment." She turned back to the ship controls. "Now, which button controls the ignition?"

"Like I'll tell."

"Ah, ah, ah." She waved a finger. Turning back to him, she pulled a small remote out from her tail. (I imagine that's why Nekomatas' tails are so bushy. They must use it to carry small items!) "You wouldn't want me to press this little switch right here, would you?"

"Ha. As if you'd actually do it."

"Ok, you brought this one on yourself." Pressing the switch, Brad was suddenly doused with a crapload of water, the first of many things some cats, for the most part, can't stand.

"Are you stupid? I'm a jaguar, not a common cat. I can withstand water." He told her.

"Oh, I'm well aware, but you seem to forget that water does attract this." With another press, a strong electrical currentflowed through his body. Combined with the water, the jaguar was getting the real shock of his life. When the current stopped, Brad was on the floor, erratically twitching from all of the electricity. She sauntered over to him, her hips swaying to and fro. She stooped down, tracing along his jaw with one of her fingers. "Now then, are you going to tell me which button starts this up?"

"Nope... s-still not going to s-s-say."

"Ohhh, that's too bad."

Meanwhile, from around the corner and behind a crate.. 

"No. How could she do something like that to him?" The Elbacky (Damn, still haven't found a proper name yet) was watching in horror as Brad received the shock.

"She's the type who won't hesitate to use any necessary force in order to have her way." You could tell from Nelius' face that he was severely pissed off. "Damn, I haven't really known about her that long and she already makes me sick."

"If we try something, she'll use him as a shield. How do we stop her?" She heard a small clatter beside her, and saw Nelius loading some kind of Netherworld model gun. "Are you crazy?! You fire that, and..."

"Personally, I absoluely loathe using a firearm, but in this case, we have to match mercilessness with ruthlessness." He finished loading the gun and leveled it at the Nekomata. "Besides, I'm aiming for a bigger target."

Before she could ask, the Elbacky's right ear began to twitch again.

"Nelius, we're about to have some company." She warned. "And from the sounds of it, they're angry."

"Good." He lined up the small laser sight on his target. "It means less for us to worry about."

While Nelius was loading...

"Well, since you're going to be so stubborn, I guess I have no choice but to resort to my last option." The mystery Nekomata sauntered over to her prized mixture.

"And just what is in that vial?" Brad had to ask, knowing that he had few other options.

"Oh, a little something I happened to stumble across while channelsurfing. With one drop of this liquid, you'll feel nothing but eternal bliss."

"What?" Cue a look that said it all. "It makes you eternally happy?!"

"Oh, there's more. When this stuff fully kicks in, the first person of the opposite gender that falls into your sights will be the one that will fill your heart with joy. And since we're all alone on this ship..."

"So, in a nutshell, this thing's a Love Potion?"

"More or less, that's the general idea."

"That has to be the dumbest idea I've ever heard of!"

"You think I care?!" She snapped at him before her voice fell low. "For 500 years, I've been pouring my heart out to you. Why do you refuse to accept me?"

"Well, for one, if you'd taken a more direct approach instead of trying to kidnap, torture, and force me into marriage at every turn, things might've ended up differently."

"Y-you think so?" A look of hope crossed her face. "But, I always thought that was the Netherworld way: get things through force."

"Perhaps, but you may want to step backwards one step." He warned, his eyes focused on her vial.

"For what reason?" She quipped.

The sound of Nelius' gunshot rang out as a bullet went flying, shattering the vial, sending the mixture all over the floor.

"That would be the reason. Sorry." He grinned, watching her drop to her knees and try to scoop some of the liquid up.

"Nooo! I spent over 60 thousand Hell on this! I knew I should've gotten the money-back guarantee!" She wailed, upset over her loss. "Who did this?!"

"I beleive you have me to blame." Nelius stepped out from around the corner, holstering the gun he found inside the crate. "You know, I'm not an expert on building relationships, but honestly, resorting to kidnapping? Not exactly the best way to make a new friend." He walked over to the side of the room, a confident look on his face.

"How would you know?" She screamed at him. "I've been at this for longer than you've even been around! Why in the nine hells would I even bother to listen to you?!"

"Simple." He pressed a button on the wall, opening the doors to both side of the Bridge. Outside were thousands of the native Felynn, and from the looks on their faces, they were less than impressed with what she'd done. "Ever here the expression: _To mess with one of us is to mess with all of us?_ Well, you messed with the Overlord of this Netherworld, the one demon they all look up to. Say hello to a few friends he's made over the years." As he moved to the side, the horde of cats began pouring in. As two of them went over to help Brad up and out of the way, as well as remove the device from him, the rest of them formed a tight circle around the Nekomata. The sounds of furious hissing filled the room as they all eyed her, their fangs and claws beared.

The Elbacky stepped away from the corner, holding up what appeared to be some kind of bell. Nelius stepped over toward her, and pulled out the gun, holding it like a hammer.

'He-he's not about to..!' Her eyes widened in horror. 'Has he lost it?'

"I'd say they want a piece of you... literally. Who am I to stop them?" As he brought the gun down, one last statement was heard: "Have at it, ladies."

DING!

**MAKAI!**

And so ends another chapter.

I realize I still haven't generated a good name for Nelius' Elbacky companion, which really sucks, considering the attention she's about to get in an upcoming chapter, involving her and a long time friend.

I'm still open to receiving character names, but the next chapter should reveal her real name, so it'll take a while to churn out.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	11. Take off

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 11: Takeoff

"I have to ask, where did you get so good with a gun?" Brad had to ask as he, Nelius, and the Elbacky watched the Nekomata that had held him captive get dog... er, I mean, cat-piled by the other Felynn.

"To tell you the truth, I really haven't any idea." Nelius replied. "Still, to think that she would go to this type of extreme to come after you."

Brad nodded. "I can only hope this kind of incident won't happen again, because next time, I fear that I might not be able to stop them." He gestured to the horde of Felynn who were now exiting the ship, their rage spent. The Nekomata was down on the floor, several bruises and teethmarks adorning her body with multiple tufts of fur missing.

"Anyway, what are you going to do with her?"

"You know, that's a good question."

"Hopefully, she's learned her lesson." The Elbacky interjected.

"Either way, I need to check something real quick." Brad walked over to the ship's controls and began looking over several things. "This is interesting."

"What is?"

"Oh, according to the readouts on the panel, I'm a full month ahead of schedule."

"Hm?" Now Nelius was interested.

"Even though I'm considered this world's Overlord, I also have a second duty as a Guardian."

"Guardian?"

"Oh, an ancient clan that stems far back into my species' history. In short, as one of the last of my type, I usually am charged with traveling to different Netherworlds to make sure that things haven't gone to Hell and back."

"Basically, a traveling Mediator?"

"That's the general idea of it. With everything here in order, I can begin the journey by later today. I can sign you on as one of my crew members, if you like."

"Hmmm." Nelius was in thought. "I'll give you an answer in a bit. I need to go get something." He departed from the ship, heading back toward his room in the Overlord's Tower.

**MAKAI!**

_Nelius Journal Log, August 25, 33XX _

_Brad has offered me a position aboard his ship when he goes out on his trip around different Netherworlds. _

_I still plan to become stronger in order to defeat Sirea, but this expidition may sound like a chance for me to develop those strange skills of mine. Every time I go to sleep, I can see them play out in my mind. _

_A strike from Celestia's Gate..._

_The four offensive elements in my Gauntlet..._

_My wings used to attack distant opponents.._

_But the last one is still fuzzy to me. All I see is something light and something dark. Maybe it has something to do with those two strange orbs I received. When I get the chance, I'll take a look into them. _

**MAKAI! **

As Nelius stood up to stretch, he then realized that he'd been up all night helping save Brad's rear end, as he saw this Netherworld's sun rise.

"Eh, I'm still awake, so going to bed won't do me any good. May as well just walk around for a bit." Placing what few items he had in his bag, then slinging it over his shoulder, he exited the tower and decided to just take a walk around the city for a bit, just to pass some time. He watched several other Felynn doing their own things, wether it was just waking up from a catnap, getting something to munch on, or getting some morning exercise. Though some of them did give him strange looks, as if they'd never seen a humanoid demon before, they eventually turned back to whatever it was they were doing, their fascination already used up. His thoughts now turned toward what Brad had described about the travel to other Netherworlds. 'Now that I think about it, Mom and Dad never did say about which Netherworld I was from.'

He remembered back about 10 years ago, when he'd attempted to ask his father something, since his mother had been out that day.

'All Dad ever told me was _it's a complicated situation_. Hmph, complicated my ass. Hell, even Mom was tight-lipped on the whole deal.' Finding an old branch nearby, he took it, hooking it over his shoulders and sparing his arms from further fatigue from carrying the bag. 'Even if they did say something about it, it wouldn't explain those weird dreams, especially the one about...' As he continued to walk, lost in his thoughts, he rammed into a tree. "Oww! Who put that here?" He clutched his hurt nose, barely managing to hold onto his branch.

"One shouldn't walk into trees. It causes great pain to the unlucky." Chimed a familiar voice.

"When someone is lost in thought, the outside world becomes..." He realized just how he was talking. "Damnit! Knock that off!" He whirled around, coming face to face, instead of face to chest, with the Elbacky.

"Sorry, old habits die hard." She playfully stuck out her tongue, causing Nelius to sweatdrop. "Either way, Brad wanted me to tell you something important."

"And it would be..."

"If you want to take Brad up on his offer, get back to his ship, pronto. He leaves in two hours. See you." With that, she took off toward the ship.

"Two hours... oh, shit!!" Dropping the branch and grabbing his bag, he quickly let his wings sprout from his back, ignoring the slight pain. "Hey, wait for me!"

**MAKAI!**

The Phantom Cat sailed through the space between Netherworlds.

"Huff.. huff... next time... you're giving me a time limit... give me a quicker heads up!" Nelius complained.

"What, and ruin all the fun?!" the Elbacky smiled at him. "Besides, flying is a quicker way of getting around compared to running."

"Hey, remember, I haven't had that much time to redevelop my wings."

"Before you two decide to tear each other apart, let me make one quick announcement." Brad, at the helm of the ship, warned the both of them. "It's going to be about a day before we reach the first stop, so you'll want to rest up. To add to that, my crew already selected their rooms, so if you two want some space to yourselves, now's the time to go claim your quarters."

Having forgotten their discussion, the two of them quickly raced down the hall toward the sleeping quarters.

'Hn, now that I know that strategy works, Lita owes me 500 Hell. Hwa-cha-cha-cha!' He grinned.

Meanwhile, Nelius and the Elbacky were dashing toward the sleeping quarters, trying to find a vacant room. While the latter person was content on finding a room, Nelius was taking a little more time, charting out his own route. Based on where he'd been so far, he was trying to find a room that would give him equal access to the kitchen and the training area, though he wanted an area closer to the training area, since that was where he planned on being for a good while.

'Ehh, this one's open. It'll have to do.' Swinging the door open, he took in the sight of the room. Its design was fairly similar to the room he'd been given back in Brad's Netherworld, even having the exact same kind of bed, dresser, and TV. 'Wait, does that thing even get reception in space?' Curious, he walked in, closed the door, and grabbed the remote, turning the TV on. To his surprise, the reception was actually quite clear. 'Surprising, but I've got no time for this.' Turning it back off, he left the room, retracing his steps back toward one familiar room.

'Finally, now to catch up on lost time.' His hand went for the knob, trying to twist it. 'Huhh, locked?'

"Didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?" Brad snuck up on Nelius.

"Yaah!" He nearly shrieked, spinning around. "Don't do that!"

"I told you to rest up. Now scoot." Nelius was already gone. 'Now Frita owes me 649. Haa-cha-cha-chaa!'

Back in his room, the humanoid was busy flipping through channels on the TV, trying to find something so uninteresting that it would lull him to sleep. So far, not a damn bit of luck.

'Huh, here's irony at its finest. 400-something channels and nothing boring on.' He flipped from channel to channel, seeing nothing that held his interest. 'Ah, to hell with this.' He turned the TV off and settled into bed, sleep still eluding him for a small while.

**MAKAI!**

"Say, Radara, you do know where we're headed next, right?" Brad said to nobody in particular.

"Oh, I know. An old friend of mine and I are going to be catching up on old times." The one called Radara answered back.

"Just be careful with him being on this ship. You remember her... habits, right?"

"You shouldn't worry too much about that." She laughed. "I know she'll behave. Besides, if she does get out of hand, I've got some... dirt on her."

"You're quite the devious one, aren't you?" He smirked.

"After all, I _did_ learn from the best. Good night, Brad."

**MAKAI! **

So ends this new chapter. I'm surprised at myself for finishing this one up so quickly.

Yes, I have finally chosen a name for the Elbacky, but for those who sent in names, I decided to give those names out to several other characters. Hey, can't let that creativity go to waste, right? And, as I promised, those who did send in names shall be given proper credit.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	12. Bonus Chapter 1

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

A/N: This was supposed to be an upcoming story arc, but I decided that it wouldn't really work out all that well, so I decided to shorten it up and condense it into a neat, tidy chapter. Originally, I wasn't going to include it as canon to the plot, but I wrote it up anyway, just for a small laugh.

Bonus Chapter 1: Ah, Crap!

Nelius woke up that morning (well, if you can tell the system of night and day in Dimensional Space), an itching sensation originating at the crook of his elbow. Though he had some rather forced awakenings, this time he'd been allowed to sleep in, and was a bit drowsier than normal. Getting out of bed, he shuffled over to the small bathroom each room had been outfitted with, making sure to take a quick look in the full length mirror.

He walked by, taking a quick look at his reflection as he scratched the fur on his arm before heading into the bathroom...

"Wait a moment.." He backed up, taking a closer look. Brown fur had covered his arms from the wrists up to his elbows, and his legs from the ankles to his knees. It took him a moment before it came to him.

**MAKAI! **

"BRAD!" The way Nelius was pounding on Brad's door, you'd swear the ship was under attack. "Get your furry ass out here, now!" It took about another minute before the Overlord/Guardian opened his door, and was promptly grabbed by the shirt by Nelius. "Explain!" He held up his fur-covered arm for Brad to see.

"Hn, it appears that you have unnatural hair growth on your arms." He replied.

"I can see that, smartass!" Nelius shook the Overlord hard, really waking him up. "How did this happen?!"

"It would seem that you've been given 'the Bite'." His eyes had drifted toward the crook of Nelius' right elbow.

"The Bite? What the hell is that?"

"Some of the Felynn have the ability to pass on some of their traits to those they like through a bite."

"You're saying someone bit me?"

"Well, there are some effects as to receiving this bite."

"Like.."

"Well, it subtly changes your aura, so you won't be recognized by those who can sense it. Also, you'll literally gain a cat's reflexes, so it'll help you in your training."

"That's all well and good, but what about the hair growth?"

"Oh, you'll go through that, and maybe gain the mannerisms of a cat. Don't worry, it usually wears off in about a week, so you'll be back to your old, grouchy, furless self in no time." He grinned, which earned him a fist upside the head.

"Do you even realize what kind of problems this can cause?"

"Hahah, you worry too much."

"OH, do I?" He pointed to behind himself, where the female crew, all of them Felynn, mind you, were just waiting for the moment when Brad closes the door. "Care to guess why they're here?"

"I'd say they're hungry."

"Yeah, and care to guess who's on the menu?"

"Well, good luck." He shut the door, leaving Nelius to pound on it.

"Brad, open up." He spared one glance at the horde of females, who were advancing. "Brad, open up, now!" Either Brad was ignoring him, or he was about to get a good laugh. "BRAD!" It wasn't any use, as the massive horde of felines piled up and around him.

By the way, Brad was, in fact, having a good laugh.

"Well, I did want him to get to know the crew a little better." Via a camera system, he watched on as Nelius was attended to by the female crew. "The more, the merrier, I say."

Nelius, on the other hand, didn't have that kind of outlook. Just as the Felynn were about to pile on him, he made a run for it. Down different hallways he sprinted as appropriate chase music blared through the loudspeakers, the horde of females hot on his tail (or lack thereof). Unfortunately, he hit a dead end, and as he turned around to meet his fate, he literally fell straight through the floor.

"WWHHHHOOOOOOAAAAAA... OOOF!" He hit ground, sitting there dazed for a moment before coming to his senses.

"Oh, sorry about that, man." He heard someone call to him, but this voice was masculine. From around the side of a machine came two male cat demons. One was tall and muscular, his fur light orange, while his companion was lean and limber, his fur much darker. Both of them were wearing stained overalls with white T-shirts underneath. "Never would've thought that floor panel would collapse."

"Eh, you guys actually saved me a great deal of trouble. Anyway, who are you guys?"

"Ah, I'm T-Bone." The lighter of the two said. "And my associate here is Razer. We're Brad's mechanics,working to make sure that this ship stays in traveling condition."

"Huh, never've thought there'd be more male cat demons."

"Actually, you could say we're Infected." Razer added in.

"Infected?"

"Yeah, we were given the bite as well some time after we were signed in. It affected us instantly, and we've been like this ever since." T-Bone took a moment to look Nelius over. "You've been given the bite as well, but you don't seem to be too affected by it."

"There's more than just fur growth?"

"Oh, yeah. There's the changing of your ears and tail, gaining claws on your hands and feet, and a whole bunch of other stuff."

"Anyway, what did you mean when you said we saved you?" Razer asked.

"Eh, I was about to get pounced on by nearly every female member of this ship at once."

T-Bone chuckled. "Most guys I know would kill to be placed in that position."

"If I had a chance, I'd let them. Besides, I've got bigger fish to fry."

"Oh?"

Before Nelius could explain, a video screen on the far wall clicked to life, bringing up an image of Brad.

"Ah, so that's where you disappeared to."

"OK, smartass!" Nelius marched up to the vid screen. "You've got a lot of nerve stranding me out in the hall like that!"

"You're fine, so what's the matter?"

"How in the Hell can you be so calm about this? Look at me!" He gestured to himself. "I can't walk around looking like some kind of messed up cat!"

"You don't have to, then. Take a closer look."

"What?" When Nelius took a closer look at his arms, he noticed that some of the fur was beginning to shed off.

"It seems that my initial guess about you was correct." Brad appeared to write something down. "For your body to be able to heal and reverse the effects of the bite... this proves that you're no ordinary demon. As to what kind of demon you are, though..."

"Huh?"

"Never mind that. Either way, we're hitting our first stop in about 12 hours. I already unlocked the training room for you, Nelius, so feel free to blow away whatever time you want."

"Thanks. Finally, something interesting for me to do." As he headed for the door, he opened it up... and came face to face with the Elbacky from yesterday. "We meet yet again." He deadpanned.

"Oh yeah, nice greeting after I came down here to retrieve you." She quipped. "Come on, you pain in my tail."

"You are such a cruel mistress."

"Thank you."

**MAKAI!**

"Well, here you are, patchy." She gestured toward the door to the training room.

"Don't call me patchy." He growled.

"Why not? It's cute on you. Besides, it fits your current situation." Most of the fur on Nelius' arms and legs had already fallen off, leaving behind several bald spots. "Though, you did look more handsome with the fur."

"Forget it." He opened the door to the training area, taking the lift upward.

"He's certainly a grouchy one."

"That's how he always seems to be." Brad had been walking by, and decided to talk with the Elbacky. "He's always got his mind set on becoming stronger to take on his former boss, it's like he's lost all humor. Such a shame."

"With the way he carries himself on, you'd think he was raised by a Majin."

"Certainly feels that way. Well, I have to get back to the bridge, so I'll see you." He walked back toward the bridge, but stopped. "Don't forget about that little discussion we had the other day."

"I won't."

**MAKAI! **

Like I stated, this was mostly here for a small glimpse of what was supposed to be a long story arc, but I decided to shorten it up some. Either way, this also introduced the mechanics for the ship, two characters my friend came up with.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	13. New recruit

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 12: New recruit

"So, he hasn't yet figured it out?"

"No, it appears not. We sent him both items, and he still doesn't understand."

"We haven't much time left in this world, even if we are in here."

"The rest must be left up to the four who are with him, though he doesn't know it."

"Even now, he fights with them, and doesn't realize their importance."

"He desires to become stronger, but has taken an inefficient path. I will go to them and have them invite him in."

"Don't strain yourself too much. Remember, if we exert ourselves too much..."

"I'm well aware of the consequences. This is all for his sake... both of them."

**MAKAI! **

Blasts of photonic Star energy tore through the room, utterly destroying the targets. Nelius closed his wings back up.

'That was the attack that helped me escape those three back in Midnight..' He still remembered that incident. 'Heck knows what those three might've tried.' Stretching out his wings to let them cool down, he closed his eyes and was immersed in another strange vision. He found himself standing in what appeared to be an arena, with four different colored auras radiating from seperate corners of the room. Even when he opened his eyes, this was all he saw.

"We await you, Nelius." One voice called to him, from the red aura.

"Who are you?"

"We have answers to what you seek." Another voice told him, this one from the green aura.

"Seek us out..." A female's voice began the sentence from the blue aura...

"... and we shall reveal everything to you." The yellow aura, also with a feminine tone, finished.

"Where are you?" Nelius looked around, seeing nobody anywhere.

"We are so close, but, at the same time, worlds apart." The red flared into a pillar of flame.

"Look around you to find the entrance." The green became a fierce tornado.

"Once you are here, come and find us." The blue solidified into a glacier.

"Defeat us, and you shall learn everything." The yellow struck with the ferocity of a thunderbolt.

Then his eyesight restored itself, and he found himself back in the training room.

"That clinches it, I'm never letting another Felynn sink her teeth into me again." He felt the area where he'd been bitten, running his finger over the bite mark. "Bites cause hallucinations."

"Attention all personnel of the ship, we have arrived at destination PN001." Brad's voice came over a ship-wide loudspeaker. "Personal members of my team, report to the bridge immediately. All other crew will perform their duties as regularly scheduled. And, as for you, Nelius," The aformentioned demon froze, "Come on down to the bridge as well. I happen to have something planned for you." The speaker clicked off.

"Oh, boy. I can only wonder what it is Captain Fuzzpants has up his sleeves." Taking the lift back down, Nelius headed for the bridge of the ship, where he saw other Felynn, who he guessed were part of Brad's team. Though some of them were giving him looks, he ignored it and patiently waited for Brad to show up.

When the aformentioned Overlord/Guardian did show up, he was wearing something vastly different from when Nelius saw him normally. With this wear, he looked pretty close to human.

"All right, team members, you know what to do, so get out there and begin." He opened one of the doors, allowing the Felynn to filter out. "As for you, Nelius." He focused his attention on the only non-Feline demon. "As it is, the Overlord of this netherworld has allowed us to sign one of her vassals as a new crewperson, and I'm sending you to go get that new person."

"Why send me? Why can't you send someone else?"

"One, because I can, and two, everyone else's time cards are full. Now, get going." Pressing a button, a hatch in the ceiling opened up, and a springboard beneath Brad's feet activated, sending the jaguar flying out of his own ship. Nelius just watched on as Brad did something most Felynn are incapable of doing.

"Weirdo." He face-palmed.

"You should see him on his birthday. He almost dropped a steamroller on me, screaming 'WRYYYYYYYYYY!' the whole way." Guess who this was?

"If that's him sober..." He'd rather not finish that sentence.

"He only really celebrates it every few years."

"Man, I'd really..." He then turned his attention to his companion. "Just how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see him catapult himself to the Overlord's Castle. What about you?"

"Never mind that." He left the ship.

**MAKAI!**

"Shit." He's lost. "Damn Brad, not even telling me who it was I'm supposed to find. Oh, when I get back to the ship.." Madly plotting his revenge against Brad, he failed to notice that he had a visitor following behind. "Oh yeah, I'll pound him into a bloody, pulpy piece of demon and then I'll... what the hell?" He noticed that his thoughts had taken a turn from violence to... well, I'll just allow you to imagine that next part on your own, since trying to describe it here would definitely push the T boundaries of this fic. "Whoa, that bite must've had some weird side-effects." He just continued on, attempting to plot against the jaguar Overlord, but his thoughts kept changing back to what would break the T bounds of this fic wide open. "Damn it all. I can't keep my thoughts nice and bloody."

'He's more resistant than I'd thought, though messing with him is so much fun.' The stalker in question was in fact, a Succubus.

Beleive it or not, there are actually two known subspecies of Succubus in the Netherworlds. The common succubus, species HRD, has curved horns and transforms its tail into a snake head to attack its opponents. This particular succubus was a lesser known species, RYJ, which has spiral horns like Priere's and a noticable lack of a tail, instead using its wings to attack.

'It makes me wonder what he's... oh!' She had to crouch behind a tree in order to evade being seen. 'He's definitely not like the other demons around here.'

"Agh! To hell with this!" He turned around and began heading back to the ship. "I'm going to find that walking furball and.." Sensing that those strange visions were beginning to seep back into his mind, he shook them off, then got an idea. As he headed back, he stooped down and picked up a small stone. When the visions began to creep back, he spun around and flung the stone, nailing someone square between the eyes.

"Aah!" Stumbling in pain, the succubus was flushed out of her hiding spot.

"Figured as much. No other demon has the ability to influence others' thoughts." Nelius noted. "If I'd been thinking of other things, you might've gotten to me."

"Still, did you have to throw that stone?"

"It was either that, or blast you to kingdom come via Star energy. Take a pick." He turned back in the direction of the ship. "Either way, I've got work to do. Bye." Spreading his wings out, he quickly began flying back toward the ship.

"Grr. So, that's how he wants to play, huh?" Allowing her own wings to spread, she took flight, ready to give chase. "After all, I was one of her best; no way he's going to get off so easily."

**MAKAI! **

"So, that's what became of him." Priere was in the middle of a discussion with Brad. "Never thought he'd be among one of your own."

"He proved to be of use, so I hired him on." Brad explained. "Though, I wonder how he's doing in finding that new recruit of ours."

A section of the castle blasted away, giving Brad the answer to his question. Nelius had been blasted in the back with a Thunderbolt attack, causing him to go flying face first through the wall into Priere's Audience Hall.

**MAKAI! **

I was planning on adding more to this chapter, but I decided to add that in to the next one, since I'll have more leeway on what happens next.

Until Next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	14. Double trouble

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates paragraphs

Chapter 13: Double Trouble (For Nelius, anyway)

Nelius picked himself up from the floor, scattering small pieces of rubble everywhere. Shaking away the shock from the attack, he came to face Overlords Priere and Brad.

"Hi." He waved his hand, as though flying straight through a wall was a perfectly normal thing to do these days.

"What happened to you?" Brad was a bit shocked.

Even more shocking, a blur of purple came flying through the hole in the wall that Nelius had flown through, knocking the demon through the other wall, leaving Priere's Audience Hall with two new windows. Now, if she could get some glass installed, it'd become a perfect vantage point.

Right, getting back to what happened to Nelius.

Priere and Brad looked though the newly formed hole in the wall, seeing Nelius tangle with whoever it was that decided on making him a new target. When the dust settled down, they could accurately make out Nelius and his assailant, the speices RYJ Succubus.

As to what they were doing... it could most accurately be described as they each took a turn in beating the living hell out of one another.

Nelius had taken the initiative, choking the Succubus before the two had whipped themselves into a frenzy of close punching and kicking that kicked up more dust.

When it settled, the Succubus was bending his arms behind his back... painfully. Another frenzy of dust...

..And it ended with Nelius ramming the Succubus' face into a tree. When they started kicking up their cloud again, this time she'd resorted to trying to throw close range thunderbolt spells at him. One of them that had missed and bounced off the side of a tree was traveling toward the pair of Overlords. While Priere had time to dodge, Brad, on the other hand, was not as fortunate. He'd taken the full brunt of the electrical blast, leaving his fur singed and most of it sticking straight up. Little bolts of static could be seen traveling from one tuft of fur to the next as he twitched.

"That... is... ENOUGH!!" He roared, dark flames erupting from his body. The look on his face was one of pure, maniacal fury, which was enough to stop the match of 'Strangle him/her' that Nelius and the Succubus were in the middle of. When they got a good look at the Jaguar/Overlord, the phrase "Scared Shitless" would've been the understatement of the day. Forgetting their earlier argument turned fight, the two now hugged each other out of fear of being barbequed by Brad.

"Run?"

"Sounds good."

Eh, you try to figure out who said what; I'm too lazy to do it.

**MAKAI! **

"Huff... huff... I think we're safe." The both of them, at Nelius' idea, had hidden aboard the Phantom Cat, stumbling into the first room they'd managed to find that was unlocked.

"Let's hope so." He still remembered seeing him unleashing those dark flames. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone get that pissed off before."

"Especially after being toasted by a thunderbolt." She then thought back to that. "Then again, if his fur was thicker, we could've called him a walking fluffball."

"Oh yes, a cat with an afro." The both of them began to laugh.

"Nice to see you two are getting along." A voice caused the two of them, who were hiding behind the bed, to turn their heads over to who had addressed them, fear written across their faces, though they relaxed.

"Oh, I remember you." Nelius recognized the Elbacky that had helped him out back on Brad's Netherworld. "Where'd you come from?"

"This is my room. You remember, space was limited."

"Oh, yeah. I'll be going now." Completely forgetting about Brad still raising hell outside the ship, Nelius stood up, walked over to the door, and left.

"As for you.." The Elbacky regarded the Succubus by dashing over to her and practically, for a lack of a better term, tackle-hugged the Succubus. "Kyaaaaah! It's been such a long time!" At least, this is what she was going for.

"Uh, do I know you?" The Elbacky fell over, right there on the spot.

"Don't tell me you forgot! We told each other that we'd keep in contact with each other, no matter the distance." She scrambled to her feet, standing face to face with the other woman.

"Oh, yes, I remember." She put a finger to her lips in thought. "Still, who are you?" Cue the Felynn falling to the ground again.

"Esara!" She screeched at her. To this, she got a laugh as a reply.

"Only a joke, Radara. I could never forget the Living Radar." To that, the Elbacky called Radara's face began to burn a bright red.

"Do you have to use that nickname?"

"Come now, it's only a appropriate title. After all, you _were_ always good at finding things nobody else could." Esara just teased.

**MAKAI! **

Nelius, who had left a moment before that conversation, was staring out the front window, watching as Brad seemingly ran around in circles, working off his rage on the little mushrooms and that were fleeing in terror.

'Better wait until he cools off.' As he headed back to his room, he overheard a small part of the ladies' conversation, mostly the part about the "_living radar_" bit. 'Wouldn't touch that conversation with a fifteen foot pole.' He continued walking along, unaware of something very odd that was soon to happen.

**MAKAI!**

For a while, I had the idea of adding in another non-Felynn into the story, mostly to help alleviate the alien feeling Nelius would be having right about now. Then, while playing La Pucelle, and clearing out the Dark Shrine, I saw the art style used in the game to depict the monsters, and that gave me the idea for the names of the different Succubi types depicted in N1 titles.

Also, adding in a new character that had some backstory with the Elbacky, Radara, was actually the idea of my friend, so some credit goes to him as well.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainborough


	15. Bonus Chapter 2

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

A/N: Coming home from another night at work, this idea suddenly came to me out of the blue. I took it home, fiddled around with it for a bit, consulted my friend about it (though not necessarily in that above order), and it eventually evolved into this chapter's basis.

After all of this, my friend will most certainly be ready to kill me.

Bonus Chapter 2: Never saw it coming

It had been a few days since the incident in Priere's Netherworld involving Brad and the strange dark flames that engulfed his whole body. Stranger still, he seemed to have no memory of the incident, either choosing to put it out of his mind or purposely feign ignorance about it. Either way, Brad's ship was up and on its way to the next destination.

Esara, a species RYJ Succubus, who had been admitted as a new member of the crew, was gaining popularity among the crew members. Some would speculate that it's because she was a rare species of Succubus found normally around Priere's Netherworld, or because of the fact that, like Nelius, she was a non-Felynn, which easily drew attention to them.

On that matter, though, Nelius usually preferred to stay away from the spotlight, keeping to his own devices. Esara, on the other hand, if she wasn't hanging around Radara, Nelius, or the both of them, was usually having a good time with most of the other crew.

Brad had been staying up for the past few nights, fervishly working, probably trying to take his mind off of his lack of self-control back at Priere's. It had been only through the timely persistence of Tikal, a Tiger Stripe Felynn who was also his second in command, that he finally stepped away from the command center and went to go get some sleep.

With the next destination's coordinates set, the ship was to travel through a warp (the travel is pretty smooth, so there's no jarring of the ship) and arrive at the next point, which was also a drop-off.

I'll tell you this, right now. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, could've forseen what happened next.

**MAKAI! **

Nelius awoke that morning (according to the clock), and got out of bed, releasing a long yawn and stretching before exiting his room. With the familiar call from his stomach, he headed over to the ship's Mess Hall. Along the way, he saw someone who resembled either Radara or Esara, but through his sleep-addled vision, he gave a simple wave to the person, made a left turn and raided the Mess Hall's pantry... or at least, he made the attempt to.

As he searched through the stores of food, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. At first, he disregarded it, but when that person tapped him again, he raised a hand to knock the other person's away and continued searching. It had been when the person smacked him upside the head that he snapped to attention and turned.

"What do you... wa...eh?!" Raiding forgotten, he just stared in disbelief.

Standing there was something that could, at best, be described as a Succubus-Felynn mix. She had the Felynn's tail, ears, and occasional fur on her body, but also had the Succubus' wings, spiral horns, free flowing hair, and outfit. He walked over and began fingering the wings.

"Sweet costume." As he fiddled around with the wings, she gave him a disapproving look. "Who makes this kind of stuff? You have to refer me to whoever made this. They did a nice job."

"Uh, Nelius..."

"Cool! A voice synthesizer that actually matches both Radara and Esara's voice tones. Incredible!"

"Um, if you'd let me explain..." Her patience was starting to wear thin.

"Did Brad make you one of those? I have to..." She whirled around and put her face right up to his.

"You idiot! It's us!"

"Wait, you mean to say that you are both Radara and Esara?" She nodded. Then an idea hit him. Oh, I get it now." A look of hope crossed her face. "That costume must have extra space to fit the both of you!" She fell over, face first. "It must be awfully dark in there. Need a light?" She quickly rose to her feet, seething with fury. "What?"

**MAKAI! **

"Geez, you really knocked him a good one." A Tailring at the medical bay looked over Nelius, whose body was adorned with a black eye, one good bruise to the stomach, and a bloody nose.

"He deserved it." She was still mad about earlier.

"If you say so..." The Tailring, Juno, picked up a scanning device and pointed one end toward the strange Felynn-Succubus mix. "Hold still just a moment." A blue light scanned her from head to toe, then displayed the results on a small screen. "This... is something. Apparently, the two of you have fused together."

"Tell me something I don't know, like how long this will last."

"I really can't say, but I do know the alien feeling."

"Really?" She deadpanned.

Juno lifted up the hair on top of her head, revealing two yellow flower buds resting where her ears would normally be. "Trust me, I know. And another friend of mine once ended up with pink feathers around her waist."

"What's the bet she moonlights as an exotic dancer?" Nelius had apparently woken up.

"You shut up." Juno snapped. "Anyway, better call Brad about this." She tried connecting, but got only static. "Come on, patch through!" She slammed a fist on the console, but nothing worked. Nelius got up from the medical bed, placed his ear to the side of the console, then flicked a finger to it. Nodding, he walked around to the other side and delivered unto it a swift kick, which then produced a crystal clear picture.

"The American way always works!" He struck a pose, grinning. The other two just stared. "Well, let's see what he's doing."

Brad was fast asleep, his quarters a complete mess. Covers were thrown around everywhere, and Brad himself was sprawled out in the center of the bed, his mouth wide open, tongue hanging off one side and snoring up a storm, complete with thunderheads and rain effects.

Juno stared in disbelief, the fused one had a look of complete shock (due to Radara knowing Brad for so long, especially how much of a neat freak he could be), and Nelius was laughing.

"I knew he was a heavy sleeper, but..."

"Never thought I'd ever see..."

"HAHAHAHAAA!" Nelius was snapping picture after picture of the sight. "This is gold!" The two females looked at him.

"Why are you snapping pictures?" He turned to them, a strange look in his eyes.

"PAYBACK FOR ALL THAT SHIT HE PUT ME THROUGH!" Nelius declared.The two backed away from him. "Plus, it's funnier than hell to see him like this!" Pocketing the camera, he pulled out a video recorder and began taping, and not a moment too soon, as Brad began making strange noises in his sleep and twisted and turned about. 'Netherworld's Most Humiliating, here I come!' When the noises settled down, Nelius dashed out of the medical center.

"Where is he going with that tape?"

**MAKAI! **

A pair of red eyes shone from a darkened cell.

"So, it comfortable enough in there for you?" Nelius peered into the holding cell-esque room.

"Go away! Haven't you humiliated me enough?!" She sneered at him.

"Potentially, no, but that's not whay I'm here." Flipping open a side of the video recorder with a viewing screen, he hit a button for the playback feature, then turned the screen to the captive, whose eyes widened in shock. Her eyes could be seen closing, and badly contained laughter could be easily heard resounding from the cell. "If you want to see him make a bigger fool of himself, say a few quick lines into this voice recorder." He passed her a recorder, and she turned her head up to him.

"I don't understand you. You rescued him from me, and now you want me to help in humiliating him? How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"Tell me, how could I be tricking you by having you say something that can scare the living shit outta him?"

"Point made."

**  
MAKAI! **

Brad woke up, feeling quite refreshed from that much needed sleep.

"Ohh, Brad." A teasing voice resounded. He froze up.

"What the hell? He looked around, but didn't see the voice's owner. 'I know that voice. It's her, but, how'd she get out?'

"I never knew you slept in anchovie boxers. Cute!" His face (and facial fur) paled considerably. He wildly whipped his head around the room, looking for any potential hiding spots. Where was she?! How did she know?!

"Ohh, but you looked so _damn_ adorable sleeping like that! Can I come up there sometime? I know we'll have a blast!" That did it. He shrieked like a child and ran straight through his door, leaving a perfect outline. He dashed straight down to where he'd held the Nekomata that had captured him earlier that week and peered in on her, in nothing but his white anchovie boxers.

"Hi!" She beamed at him.

"If... you're here...then, who..."

"Oh, must've been my other self. She likes to get out every now and then for some fun." She gave a sinister grin. "But, since you're here..." In a flash, she jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into the cell. "We'll have our fun now!"

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

**MAKAI! **

Back at the Medical bay, Nelius was laughing so damn hard, his eyes were tearing up. He'd managed to capture everything up to the point where Brad ran straight through his door in a panicked fit.

"Wasn't I supposed to be the central point of this chapter?" The fused one questioned.

"I'm not sure what you're going on about, but I've never seen that display before!" Juno, who had been watching the whole time, had finally broken down and was laughing alongside Nelius.

"Then, what was all of this about?"

"Simple." He turned serious for a moment, silencing Juno. Then, a big grin broke out across his face. "Payback's a bitch!"

**MAKAI!**

So ends this second bonus chapter. Anyway, as for the fused Radara/ Esara, I'm in the market for a name suggestion, especially since she'll become a major character in a further chapter.

I'm also seriously thinking of making the next chapter, or the one afterwards, something of a Q&A with the characters.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	16. Delivery

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

A/N: I was right. My friend was, in fact, ready to kill me when I posted the previous chapter. However, we managed to set a few things straight, and so this fic continues on.

Anyway, this chapter briefly introduces two new OC's, both created by my friend.

Chapter 14: Delivery

"Anyway, as we cornered him, his wings gave off this big flash of light, and the next thing we know, that kid gets away!"

Having made it to the town of Midnight, one of Sirea's vassals, a Strider known as William, was interviewing the three residents who had momentarily made contact with Nelius as of one or two weeks ago.

"Did you happen to see which direction he went?" William questioned.

"Last I remember, he appeared to have been heading Eastward, toward the old port." The Succubus, who had made the previous statement, pointed out. He nodded, jotting down this vital piece of information, before thanking the three and heading toward the city's edge. He reached into his pocket and extracted a cellular phone, hitting a particular number on speed dial.

"William reporting in. Target was last seen heading for the Dimension Port. I'm en route to gather more information." He ended the call and pocketed his phone before heading toward the Port. 'Still, I can't understand as to why Sirea's dead set on chasing after that boy. I've never noticed anything particular about him...'

Back at Sirea's Castle, news of Nelius' last known wherabouts was rapidly spreading thoughout the castle like a wildfire. As Sirea happened to gain wind of this, her face broke into a sinister grin.

'It won't be long now...'

**MAKAI!**

After enjoying a nice, long laugh at Brad's expense, Nelius had headed back off to the training room, mostly to pass the time, as he couldn't get the mental image of Brad's face covered in lipstick kisses long enough to actually focus on some of his techniques. When he felt the ship shudder, he knew they had landed at their next destination. When he got to the bridge, he saw what had to have been the funniest sight so far.

Apparently, Brad had tried washing the lipstick off, but it hadn't been successful, instead smearing around his face. The jaguar Overlord now looked like a big, furry tomato. Most of the Felynn were having a good laugh as their leader was shooting them all a death glare.

"Not... A ... Word." Brad warned as Nelius entered. He then walked over and dragged him and the pink haired Nekomata off toward the exit. Nelius was just grinning the whole way, giving the other Felynn the OK sign. It had been a few minutes before a castle, situated in the middle of a volcano, came into view.

"So, what occasion calls for the drag-off?" Nelius questioned.

"A delivery." He motioned toward the nekomata.

"Well, you may want to be careful with what you're handling."

"And just what would give you..." He trailed off, seeing something or someone speeding toward them. "What's that?"

"Offhand, I'd say either a high speed craft or a stampede." Nelius had gotten out of Brad's grip and was viewing the object that was moving toward them. "If I had a pair of binoculars, I could... oh, thanks." The Nekomata handed him a pair.

"Where did you get those?" Brad had to ask.

"My tail. It's where all my stuff is." She honestly answered.

"Yah... anyway, I see... I see..." He couldn't help but smirk at his next statement. "Black... and pink... with a considerable pair of assets too."

"What are you talking.." The ground began to shake rather violently. The rapidly approaching thing was either heavy, or there were multiple things approaching.

"Oh, I see two.. no, eight... wait, twenty... holy crap, there's over one hundred!" He began to grin. "Brad, if you value your sanity, I suggest you run."

"Why?" One of the figures took a flying leap, landing right in front of Brad.

"Hello, Brad. Long time, no see." It was Etna... yes, that Etna.

Fortunately, time had been extremely kind to Etna. Over the past 450 years since the Overlord Zenon incident, she had definitely grown, no longer the skinny, flat-chested Demon Lord who departed for Veldime in hopes of taking the title of "Goddess of All Overlords" for herself in an effort to show up Laharl. Without a doubt, she was completely worthy of her "Beauty Queen" title.

She was wearing an outfit that was a modified variation of her original wear. While it, in fact, showed less skin than her original one did, this particular outfit, combined with the fact that she wasn't wearing her hair in its usual pigtails, instead allowing it to flow freely down the back of her neck, would definitely cause a few heads to turn.

"Brad.." She seemed to put on a mock pout, "Do you know how long it's been since I last heard from you? You never called, never wrote... I thought we were friends."

Nelius and the nekomata were both laughing at the sight of Brad's face. Who'd ever think that the Male Felynn had a complete fear of Etna?!

"Uh, er... ah, Et-Etna, I.. thought w-we solved that pr-problem already... gulp..." He was sweating quite profusely, his eyes widening as Etna stepped closer and closer.

"Oh, but before we take that final step, I'd like to introduce a few friends of mine." Stepping aside, one of Brad's secret fears had come to life... there were hundreds, scratch that, thousands of Etnas all giving him a particular look.

"Hi, Brad."

Faced with this, Brad did the only thing he could do... he screamed in a particularly high-pitched voice (which must've set a new Netherworld record for all Felynn) and ran back to his ship, taking off in the blink of an eye.

**MAKAI!**

In another ship, in a distant corner of the Netherworld Space...

"Hm?" A Felynn with snowy white fur looked up from a book she'd been reading.

"HellStar, what's up?" A young man, who some people would say looked like a human form of Brad, turned his head to look at her.

"I thought I heard someone scream in an unusually high pitch." She turned her attention back to her book.

"Those two must've found each other again." He let out a sigh. "I can never tell why he gets so scared shitless whenever she's around. Time to plot our intercept course."

**MAKAI! **

"Though that was about the best laugh I've had, there goes my ride." Nelius gazed at the rapidly departing ship.

"Ah, don't worry about it." The original Etna placed a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, I got what I came out here for." Lifting up her right hand, she revealed a wallet. "I knew there was reason I had that Awesome Hand on me. That guy still owed me about 3500 Hell."

"Well, since I'm stuck here for the moment... is Netherworld's Most Humiliating on?"

"Not until tomorrow... either way, I've got some footage of the Prince that I have to send in." Nelius looked at her, then began to grin.

"Well, I just so happen to have some obnoxiously rare pictures of Brad right here." Pulling out several of the photographs he took of Brad in his anchovie boxers, he began showing them off to the Etna Group, who began laughing. He then placed an arm around the nekomata. "And, with her help, I managed to catch this all too hilarious footage of Brad freaking out."

"Oh yeah, I like you now."

**MAKAI! **

Until Next Chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	17. Diving in

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 15: Diving in

In the Nether Space...

"Huff! Huff!" Brad, having been scared shiftless by Etna's antics (and the horde of clones), had simply dashed into the ship and punched in the coordinates for the next destination, not even bothering to realize something...

"I'm safe, I'm safe, I'm safe..." These words had become his mantra as his ship sped off toward his next area of investigation.

"Um, sir.." Tikal was doing her best to keep from laughing at the sight of Brad's face. "Y-you forgot something..." Whatever she was about to say next had frozen in her throat as the atmoshpere of the bridge took a nosedive. Chancing a glance to her right, she immediately began backing away.

"Couldn't have forgotten anything... EEP!" He was then literally hoisted off of his feet and spun around, still caught in the grip. It was the fused Radara/Esara, but the look in her... erm, their eyes, made his blood run colder than the Frozen River.

"Thefirstvictimofmywrathsayswhat!"

"Eh, what?" Her look changed from an angry one to a tortuous, somewhat murderous look. "Oh, fu-"

For quite a few miles around, you could hear the sounds of body blows, explosions, and the screams of the one demon who had invoked the women's wrath.

"AAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!"

**MAKAI!**

"Sometimes, I wonder..." The young man who resembled a humaniod Brad just sighed. "Maybe it was a mistake to give him that level of sentience."

"Ohh, why do you have to say it like that?" The Felynn known as HellStar had wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and appeared to be slightly hovering over him. "Besides, last I remember, you needed someone to keep an eye on the netherworld you created, so, who better than..."

"Yeah, yeah, I get the point." He began to set up a communication channel.

**MAKAI! **

The Nekomata and the group of Etnas were sitting in front on a television, laughing incredibly hard at the footage Nelius had managed to capture of Brad freaking out. Having rarely seen the male Felynn in such a state, this was a gold mine to them, the Holy Grail (or Unholy Grail, depending on your point of view) of entertainment for them.

Nelius, on the other hand, was walking around the castle with the original Etna, mostly hearing about the miscellaneous things that happened ever since the Veldime conflict.

"Well, that's more or less how Rozalin ended up as Veldime's new Overlord. She's never had any problem bossing others around, so I think she fits the bill pretty well."

"That reminds me.." Nelius jerked his thumb back at the group of Etnas. "How in the Hell did that happen?"

"It involves this weird gemstone I found, a microwave oven, and non-dairy creamer. I ain't saying anything else." Hearing a beep, she took a quick look at her watch. "Well, I gotta go wake up Sleeping Ugly." She turned and headed for the throne room.

'I can't even begin to understand how Brad is afraid of her.' He watched Etna's retreating form. 'Either way, I've got some time to kill until the Walking Fuzzball realizes I'm still here, so, best find something to pass the time.' He considered heading to the kitchen, but a radiating heat in his pocket gained his immediate attention. Reaching in, he extracted the white sphere that had been delivered to him back on Brad's Netherworld. As it hit the open air, a buzzing feeling began to radiate from the Shatter Gauntlet as a small section on the wrist opened up, revealing the black sphere that he'd been given on his first day escaping from Sirea's. Now within special proximity to each other, they began emitting a glow that overtook his sense of sight. When the glow died, the Gauntlet, devoid of its wearer, clattered to the ground.

**MAKAI! **

"Aaaagggghhhhh.. OOOF!" Another three point landing for Nelius. "Eh, where the hell am I now?" A sign nearby had read 'Depths of the Shatter Gauntlet'. "Great. Now I'll bet there's a camera somewhere around here." He took a look at his surroundings.

Anyone who saw this coming, please raise your hands.

He was standing in the middle of that strange arena he'd seen in that weird vision he had. In each corner of the room stood a pillar of light, each one a different color: red, green, blue, and yellow.

'Suddenly, I'm reminded of a man in blue armor with an arm cannon. Now, which one to take...eh, just pick one and be done with it.' He headed over to the green pillar. Stepping into the green glow, he then found himself standing in what appeared to have been a library or book emporium.

"You've come at last, young Nelius." The person who had addressed Nelius was sitting at a desk. Clothed in red and green magician's robes, he stood to face the young demon, hefting up a thick, leather bound book. His face was gaunt, showing his age. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever travel all this way."

"Who might you be?"

"I am called Rudra, third disciple of Wind Entity Dogma. I, along with three others, were once part of a special team formed by your father." That got Nelius' attention rather quickly. "Yes, he was a truly brilliant mind, able to oversee various operations and situations with such skill and planning..."

"How much about him do you know?"

"Nothing more than what the others already know of him. But, enough of that. Your father somehow forsaw this event, and had each of us place a piece of our souls into this weapon. Now comes the moment we've waited nearly sixteen years for." Opening the book, the pages fluttered as wind mana began collecting onto it.

"Get ready!"

**MAKAI! **

"Hm? What's this?" A ghost clothed in a green jacket, finding the fallen Shatter Gauntlet on the ground, picked it up. "Don't think I've ever seen this kind of fist weapon before. Must be one Lord Laharl lost. Ah, speak of the devil."

Laharl, like Etna, had shot up over the past 450 years. The once short Overlord now towered over most of his vassals, and the much awaited growth of his wings added to his already behemoth figure. He also had switched out his shorts for a longer pair of red pants, and followed up on that with a new pair of jet black shoes. His golden wrist bracelets and his scarf were the only things that seemed to survive his growth spurt.

"What do you have there, Ghoss?" Laharl noticed his longtime vassal holding the gauntlet.

"Not so sure, really. It was just lying here when I found it. Maybe you can make heads or tails of it." The ghost handed it over to the Overlord.

"Weirdest fist weapon I've ever seen. I doubt I can get any use out of this thing, but maybe one of my other vassals might."

**Inside the Shatter Gauntlet... **

Nelius dodged between blasts of wind, hoping to see some kind of weakness in Rudra's form. He'd already had a few scars running down his right arm from where a few smaller attacks had hit.

'Damn, these gusts are making things difficult. I have to get past his offense, but how... !!' Dodging another blast of wind, an idea formed in his mind. 'A bit risky, but it might just work.' Dashing forward, he made to lunge at Rudra, before his form turned a hazy violet.

"The Tiger Charge, form 2, huh?" Rudra could see through this. 'I know where you'll end up... here!' Turning around, he fired a blast of wind, but nothing happened. "What in the.." Seeing his own shadow grow in size, the wind mage looked upward, only to get a faceful of Nelius' white-hot fist. The force of the attack sent him skidding on his head, right into a bookshelf, which then collapsed on top of him.

"You all right?" Nelius cautiously approached. Even though they were technically still fighting, he couldn't help but wonder about the state of the elderly demon.

"You win..." Was the only response Nelius got before he found himself standing back in the arena again, though the green pillar had faded away. "I now bequeath unto you my own present." Looking at his left arm, Nelius saw a replica of the weapon he was inside of, but at the side of the wrist, a green node lit up. "Proof of your victory, and the power to use wind mana to its greatest extent."

"One down, three to go. Red, yellow, or blue? Well, nobody gets anywhere on questions alone." He surveyed his remaining choices.

**MAKAI! **

This chapter helps to mark the countdown to the completion of this fic. I'm not really giving up on this by creating a quick ending, but more or less getting ready to introduce a crossover fic idea that I've had brewing for a few months now.

The only hint I'm really allowed to give is that the series I plan to cross Nelius into does features a demon world, but it's a bit different than how operations go here.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	18. Rise and fall

My Calling  
Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

MAKAI! Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 16: Rise and fall

Having chosen to take the red pillar to the next area, Nelius noticed that the temperature of the area seemed to be fairly high. The place resembled some type of colosseum or battle arena, except that the outer edges were engulfed by lava so pure and reflective.

"So, you've managed to defeat my younger brother." Nelius turned around to face a floating suit of armor which had a blade in its right hand, a flame where the head should be. "Then again, Rudra was never one who would face the enemy directly."

"And who might you be?"

"I am Agni, direct descendant of Serpent Lord Malenzio and elder brother to Rudra." He placed the business end of the blade into the ground. "The time of awakening is upon us. I'm quite certain you realize such a thing."

**MAKAI! **

"She's still not back yet?!" Laharl's voice thundered through the hall.

"Well, ever since the news that Seraph Lamington fell ill, she's been quite distraught, Lord Laharl." The Dimensional Gatekeeper told him.

"IT's been a damn month, for Magog's sake! If he's gonna kick the bucket, he should've done so already!!"

"Ohh, what's the matter, Prince? Upset that your girlfriend isn't back yet?" Three guesses who this is..

"Can it, Etna."

"Hey, Prince, where'd you find that?"

"Dunno. Ghoss found it. You know whose this is?"

"Yeah, but the owner disappeared some time after I went to wake you up. He might come back for it, though. I'll be more than happy to take that off your hands."

"HEY!"

**MAKAI! **

Sword clashed against gauntlet as the second bout inside the Shatter Gauntlet was underway. The two seemed to be evenly matched, as neither one had managed to land a blow upon each other. Agni's bulky armor frame gave him an edge in defense, whereas Nelius' unarmored lithe body gave him the speed necessary to dodge and weave through Agni's offense.

"Time to raise the stakes." Raising his blade upward, two tendrils of lava began rising from the arena boundaries, and the temperature began rising again, creating a painful sensation in Nelius' gauntlet.

'Damn it! Using the temperature to heat up the metal in my weapon. No wonder my father... whoever the hell he is... chose him to be part of the team.' Nelius quickly waved his left arm about, trying to cool it off. Inadvertently, a blast of wind shot out from his waving path, cleanly slicing through two stone pillars on the edge of the area. "Whoa... never knew I could do that." He didn't have too much time to dwell on his newfound power, as Agni was already bearing down on him.

'He learns quite fast...' Agni slammed his blade downward as Nelius moved out of the way again. 'Unfortunately, not quick enough in this situation. I'll have to coerce him.' Holding his blade to his right side, the Armor Knight summoned another two pillars of lava, and by switching the blade's position to his left side, commanded the pillars to crash into himself.

"What the hell?!" Nelius watched as the lava seemed to take a solid body to hold the armor, and the flame atop the head began roaring, almost as if it lived. The blade glowed a red color and burst into flames. "Into the oven..." He felt himself fighting for a cooling breath as the area temperature just refused to lower.

"Consider yourself honored to see my blaze body form. I haven't had a battle like this in a long time. Get ready!" He rushed forward, his blade poised for an overhead strike. Nelius barely managed to get out of harm's way, but a piece scattering debris from the blade's strike flew outward, searing the young man along his side.

"Agh, damn it all!" Forced to hold his burned side with his right hand, he saw Agni getting ready to strike again. "Shit... there has to be a way... to cool the air around him.. agh, but what can wind do?" Seeing the blade coming from his right side, Nelius broke away... revealing his answer. Finding himself on the other side of the arena in a flash, he saw the flame on Agni's head flickering dangerously. 'Of course! Fire requires a steady air supply to thrive... I just need to cut the air off from around him... it's risky, but it's worth a try.'

"Running will do you no good, Nelius." Agni was already on his way to attack. 

"Actually, it'll do me a world of good!" Feeling the wind element channel into his legs, he dashed past Agni, and began to run circles around the Armor Knight.

"What in blazes?!" Agni could feel the air around him beginning to cool down, and as it did, the flames infused within his body began dying out. "No! Are you..."

"Fire can't survive in an airtight place, so all I had to do was create a vacuum space, and what better way to do so than with a cyclone?" (1) Quickly breaking off, he infused more wind energy into his left hand, and, using a quick 464 K/ph burst of wind, launched himself toward the cooled remains of the fire infused Armor Knight, and shattered him with one well-placed punch.

"V-victory is yours..." Nelius found himself back in the central arena again, and a red node lit up on his gauntlet. "The fire element is yours to command."

"Two down, two left... man, what I wouldn't give for something to munch on right now.. ah, well. Blue, or ye.. what the?" The pillar that had been a yellow color had changed to a light purple, almost pink color. "Weird.. well, choices don't make themselves."

**MAKAI! **

"You really know how to get yourself into a mess, don't you?" The one who appeared to be a humanoid version of Brad just sighed.

Brad, to say the least, was a mess. He had two black eyes, several patches of fur forcibly ripped off, half of his right ear bitten off, a few bones bending in directions previously thought impossible... and his spleen was still unaccounted for.

"Geez, who'd he piss off this time?" Gee, HellStar, take a guess.

"Sometimes, I feel more like your babysitter than your employer. What am I to do with you?"

**MAKAI! **

"Brrr! Outta the frying pan and into the deep freeze!" Upon choosing the blue light, Nelius was transported to a snowy area. "I'f I'd known winter was coming early, I'd've packed warmer clothing."

"With that kind of attitude, I'm surprised that you've defeated the Brothers of Fire and Wind." A female's voice, cold and biting as the very area, resounded. Nelius looked up ahead to see a blue-clad Kunoichi staring in his general direction. "For someone who has the remains of the Seal on his body, you've certainly shown much progress."

"Seal? You mean you know of that weird inked seal that was on my hand?"

"A fairly obvious attempt at hiding your latent powers. To a degree, it worked, but once outside of the focusing point, its own power began to diminish."

"So, my former boss was keeping me cooped up in there just to suppress me? That bitch!"

"There's more to it... if you manage to defeat me." She prepared a handful of thick, icy throwing knives. "I am Setsuka, second general of Ice Queen Miss Snow."

**MAKAI! **

(1): I read about this in a Sonic the Hedgehog comic. Sonic defeats Blaze, the pyrokinetic, by running around incredibly fast, creating a vacuum that extinguishes her flames.

Until Next Chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	19. Revelations

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 17: Revelations

As the snow fell around them in haphazardous torrents, Setsuka and Nelius battled it out. At times, it seemed as though the two of them had become one with the snowdrifts, dodging and weaving through each others' assaults.

'Simply amazing.' Setsuka thought as she dodged another punch from Nelius. 'His focus... it's almost as if this is second nature to him, keeping his movements fluid and precise, even though he just released himself from that seal days ago.' That thought, however, proved to be a distraction, as one of her own knives came flying back at her, cutting her on the left cheek. 'How did he..' She managed to move just in time to dodge a blast of wind that Nelius had fired off.

He was prepared to fire again, when he noticed that she'd stopped in the middle of their battle.

"What's going on?"

**MAKAI!**

A patched up Brad sat in the medical room.

"All I remember is wanting to get off of Laharl's Netherworld, then the next thing I know I'm getting mauled!" Before he could continue, his eyes glazed over as he slumped onto the floor, letting off a light snooze. Juno stood behind him, a syringe in her paw.

"You know, that wasn't all that necessary, Juno." The humanoid Brad stated.

"I know, it's just that I haven't had a chance to do that to him in a while." She beamed, causing him to sweatdrop.

In another area of the ship, HellStar had been talking to the fused Radara/Esara.

"So, that's how you two ended up like this?"

"More or less, that's about it."

"Anyway, why in the hell did you decimate Brad like that?"

"He left behind one of our most intregal crewmembers, the only non-Felynn to ever join!"

"Or is it something else..." She had a grin crossing her face. You know, _that_ kind of grin...

"What are you implying?!"

**MAKAI! **

'What's going on?' He noticed that Setsuka had simply held out one hand, and with that, the snowfall began letting up, until it stopped completely. Though he was possibly being paranoid, something told him to keep on his guard, which was becoming a difficult task due to the coldness. Instead of the heavy air placing a burden on his breathing, this time it was due to the thin, chilly air. 'She has something planned... question is, what is it?' Unknowingly, his gauntlet had switched, the red node activating at the same time the green one had. When her hands became filled with even more of the icy daggers, he realized it. 'Get rid of the interference, battle it out right now.'

For the second time, the battle between them raged on, but due to the lack of falling snow, the two of them could easily sense each others' movements, and neither one held the advantage for the most of the battle. Unbeknowest to either of them, they had a visitor watching their battle.

"So, that's Nelius? Hm, he isn't all that bad looking." A faint giggle eminated from the one watching the battle. "He has to visit me after this bout with Setsky..." Another giggle. "Ohh, the things I can imagine doing with him."

Nelius thrusted his left hand toward the incoming daggers, creating a counteractive gust of heated air that stopped the weapons, causing them to clatter to the snowy ground. Undaunted, the icy Kunoichi threw another dagger, this one aimed right for his chest. Quickly raising his hand to knock the offending projectile away, he inadvertantly created one of his own. The red, cresent shaped wave tore through the snowy plain, heading straight for its target. Before either of them could realize what just happened, Setsuka felt an unbearable heat tear across her chest, as the wave sliced through her, creating a painfully red scar that traveled from her right shoulder, down her chest, ending at the left side of her hip.

"Holy shit!" He made to go over, but she raised a hand, telling him to stop. "You all right?"

"A deal...is a deal, Nelius. Victory is yours, and as I promised, I will tell you more about the seal Sirea used on you." Managing a standing position, she continued. "The origins of that spell actually come from a different demon world, one that's been outside of our current knowledge. In addition to sealing a portion of the victim's strength, it also saps any mana energy from the victim to the caster. From what I remember, your mother also came from a world much like it."

"So, you do know a bit more about them."

"I should. I was one of your mother's closest confidants before I joined your father's team. Either way, you've one more person to meet before your questions can be answered." With one more flash of light, Nelius was back in the central area, and as the blue pillar of light died off, a similarly colored node lit up on his gauntlet. "With your victory, water and ice are yours to do with as you see fit."

"That's three down..." He looked to the final pillar, a strange feeling of dread weighing his stomach down. "I have to do this sooner or later, otherwise I'll never get out of here." Shaking off the feeling, he stepped into it, ending up in a strange room that looked more akin to a girl's bedroom rather than a place to do battle. "I get the feeling that I either just violated someone's privacy or walked into one of the anime's _top 100 ways to get an ass kicking_."

"Oh, don't worry, it won't come down to either of those." A soft, almost sensual voice called out from right behind him. He turned around to see who owned this particular room.

Just like Esara, before her involuntary fusion, this person was a succubus, though there were a few differences. First off, her hair, long and red, flowed down her front, covering her bare breasts. Second, she appeared to have a completely human appearance, right down to the rounded ears and lack of horns and a tail. Third, her eyes, a rich purple, seemed to just draw someone in. Fourth, she was headed right for him.

"Never thought I'd have the chance to meet the son of our captain." She smiled a toothy but sincere grin, which slightly alleviated Nelius of the feeling that she'd try something funny. That feeling quickly returned when her eyes began roving over his body. "Though, I must say, you grew up pretty well. Kind of a shame I ended up in here without a clue as to what really happened." She hovered over to her bed, taking a seat. She patted the extra space next to her, motioning for him to sit down next to her. "I'll bet you've a lot of questions for me."

"Most of them would end in 'How do I get out of here'?" Nelius remained standing in his current spot.

"I'd be more than willing to divulge such information... if you come over here and take a seat." He just sighed and sat down next to her, defeated. Almost instantly, she scooted closer to him. "It's been a long time since I had company."

"What about Agni..."

"Never really says anything."

"Rudra..."

"Never looks at my face, if you get the meaning."

"...Setsuka?"

"Too uptight. Kid probably doesn't even know how to loosen up any." She sighed this time, leaning her head on Nelius' shoulder.

'What the... what's she up to?'

"You know, I'm rather envious of you. You have a large world outside of this gauntlet to explore, while I'm stuck here."

"I could only wish it was as glorious as you make it sound. I just found out that my former boss placed a mana seal on my body, stealing my own power and adding it to her own. It's only a matter of time before she'd find out I'm gone, and then she'd try to recapture me and reinforce the seal."

"Didn't you get rid of the seal?"

"I did, but it extended deep into my body, and there's a few fragments left. If Sirea manages to reform those fragments, the seal would be reinforced, and I'd end up back at square one all over again."

"Well, I think there's a way to nullify and remove the fragments from your body. I remember your father talking about it sometime ago. He said there was a mana type that held a dominance over other elemental mana, even those of light and darkness, the two toughest elements to control."

"Well, what is this type of mana, and where would I be able to find it?"

"The name escapes me, but the mana itself is in this room. Most of it's inside you--" She lifted her head off of his shoulder, and pointed to herself. "-- and inside me as well. Unfortunately, your mana store is blocked off by those fragments."

"Okay, so how do we remove the fragments blocking my mana energy?"

"The only way we can; use a stronger source to break the fragmented remains of the seal." Willing up her store of mana, she placed one hand behind his head and, bringing herself closer, placed a mana-charged kiss on his lips.

**MAKAI! **

A twinge ran through the fused Neko-Succubus. Turning to the door, she marched down the hall toward the bridge. After literally throwing Tikal out of the navigator's seat, she took control of the ship, making it pull a complete 180 degree turn, and punched the engines into overdrive, speeding back to Laharl's Netherworld with such a ferocity that made most warp speeds look incredibly slow.

Needless to say, Tikal was shocked, HellStar, who witnessed everything, was probably wondering what the heck just happened, and Brad was still comatose from Juno's treatment, if you could call it that.

**MAKAI! **

Nelius was in quite a daze.

"Oh my, I think I overloaded his mind." She just giggled. "Well, I wasn't called Nevan the Breaker for nothing." Her body then began to feel weighed down. "Used a lot of mana to finish getting rid of all of those fragments."

"Whoah.." Nelius finally snapped out of his daze to see Nevan breathing rather heavily. "You all right?"

"Just exhausted. Well, my role here is finished. Now, it's time for you to meet someone."

"Who?"

"I can't say, but he's been waiting a long time to finally meet you. When you leave this room, there will be an elevator that'll take you down to where he resides. He can answer everything you've wanted to know."

With one last flash, Nelius was back in the central area, and he could feel something within himself had changed. Just as Nevan had said, there was a raised platform in the middle of the area to act as the elevator. Wasting no time, he stepped onto the platform, and it began to descend. When it finally stopped, he took a look at the area, then remembering the weird dream he had back on Brad's Netherworld.

'It's that freaky temple I saw.' Stepping inside, he saw the damage prevalent on the walls, floor, celing, and most of the stone pillars that helped to hold the immense structure up. 'Looks like a small scale war happened in here. What could've happened?' At the end of the hall stood a stone mural with the engravings he'd seen in that dream. This time, however, the wings of the flying figure had changed to a demonic type, and the one who held the spheres was being protected by some kind of spell.

"You've finally come at last." A voice rang out.

"Who the... who's there?" Nelius was on guard. At that moment, the hatch on his gauntlet opened up, revealing the two orbs that brought him into this in the first place. They hovered up, fitting themselves into the mural on the wall. Immediately, powerful mana energy began crawling over the mural, until it dissolved, revealing a room beyond.

"Finally, after those years of imprisonment by that woman, I'm finally able to get out and stretch." The sound of many joints popping echoed through the hall. "Ahh, that's better. Of course, I have you to thank as well, Nelius."

"How did you know who I am?"

"Step into this room, if you're so anxious to find out." Taking the challenge, he stepped into the room, which was covered in total darkness. "I've awaited this moment for a long time. Vengeance will become mine, but I have one final detail to work out." The room became alight, forcing Nelius to shield his eyes until they adjusted. When they did so, he looked toward the center of the room, where his eyes came across a nearly impossible sight.

Standing there, was himself. A pair of orange-red eyes met Nelius' golden yellow ones.

"It's been such a long time, other self. Now, we finally meet."

**MAKAI!**

The next chapter will be the last one written for this story, and then the crossover fic will take place. Will anyone be able to guess where it'll take place before the last chapter is posted here?

Until the final chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


	20. Becoming Whole

My Calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**MAKAI!** Seperates Paragraphs

A/N: This is it, the very last chapter for this story. I just want to thank HellFire Blackheart, for helping to submit ideas and characters pertaining to this story, and to everyone who read and/or reviewed this fic.

Final Chapter: Becoming Whole

"You're... me?" This was getting rather strange.

"To be more precise, a part of you. When Sirea conjured up that seal, to seal away your power so it could be taken from you at a later time, she unknowingly split our soul into two halves." Nelius scowled at that thought. "Unfortunately for her, a person's soul cannot be simply split into two like that, as they will draw toward one another, like the opposite poles of a magnet. With what little willpower I had left before succumbing to the seal's strength, I confined myself into this very gauntlet, a testament to our father's work. It took me a while, but I eventually gained my own sentience, and began to set my plan into motion."

"So, I take you're the one who roused my father's four team members to draw me into this place?"

"I did precisely that, also creating two temporary guides to give you the keys to release me."

"...Those strange orbs I received. But, I only met one guide..."

"You catch on. When you first escaped from the castle, I felt the hold over the seal begin to weaken. That was when I created the first of the two, a representation of darkness power." The beast that gave Nelius the Black Orb then appeared next to the power self. "It was only after you'd removed the ink seal from your body that I felt the mana seal begin to slip, and thus I bided my time, working to create a temporary representation of light power, the one who stole the second key, and personally delivered a special message to Sirea." A small, wispy light filtered into the area before being absorbed alongside the darkness beast into Nelius' sealed self. "And, now that you are here, the final piece of a grand puzzle shall fall into place."

"Just what part do I play in this?"

"At first, when I couldn't contact you, I'd begun to believe I'd been forgotten, and my own jealousy and anger took hold of me. All I could think of was placing you here, while I took over your life." Hearing this, Nelius prepared himself to battle. "But, after having witnessed your battles above, I realized something when I heard you speak with Nevan." He relaxed a bit. "Even if we did battle here, the winner would never become the true Nelius, as we are still seperate beings, never truly a whole."

"When you put it like that, the only way would be for us to join again as one."

"There is one last seal placed upon my body, which helped to seperate us." The seal showed itself, looking precisely like the ink tatoo Nelius had gotten rid of, though it showed much wear and tear, having been seperated over a large distance. "I'm powerless to do anything to it, but since your seal is already broken..."

"Where to begin, though. Seals can't be physically broken so easily."

**MAKAI! **

Brad's ship made a forceful landing outside Laharl's castle, and the Neko-Succubus immediately jumped out of the ship, running straight into the castle without a second thought. The next few minutes were followed with the sounds of cursing, screaming, and someone getting a beatdown.

"How does she do it?" Tikal, who'd finally recovered enough after her makeshift flight across the bridge, stood up and gazed at the carnage one monster was creating.

"That kid never ceases to surprise me." HellStar commented. "Though, the way she's acting, you'd think something was stolen from her." She put a hand to her chin. "I could wonder..."

**MAKAI! **

"Huff...huff... Okay, it's tougher than I first thought." Nelius had tried smashing his fist against the seal, but was equally repulsed each time. "If not by purely by physical force, then we need to add something extra. There's gotta be something that'll work." His answer came in the form of a painful landing on something hard and metallic. Feeling around where he landed, he found the same gun that had saved Brad back before the whole expidition began, now crackling with mana energy. 'It's the same kind that Nevan transferred to me... wait! She told me..'

Flashback

"Well, I think there's a way to nullify and remove the fragments from your body. I remember your father talking about it sometime ago. He said there was a mana type that held a dominance over other elemental mana, even those of light and darkness, the two toughest elements to control."

End Flashback

"A kind that can control and nullify other elements. Well, I still hate firearms, but here goes nothing." Raising the gun upward, he pulled the trigger, releasing a mana-charged bullet that struck the seal. For a moment, the bullet seemed to meet resistance, until Nelius fired another shot right into the back of the first bullet, shattering the seal into thousands of spell fragments.

"Amazing. To think your mana power could dispell seals." The area began to crackle as the formerly sealed portion of Nelius' soul was finally freed. "Thank you."

"No, I should be the one to do that." The room began flickering as it began to crumble. "What's going to happen now?"

"Simple." The power half began walking toward Nelius, holding out one of his hands toward him. "This room's purpose of holding me has been spent. Now we can finally become our true self." Nelius, catching on, caught his counterpart's hand, like two friends or brothers, then all went white.

**MAKAI!**

Etna was in her room, having freshly gotten out of a much needed shower, running a comb through the lengths of her dark pink hair. The Shatter Gauntlet lay on her desk.

'First he runs off, now he sends a freaky Nekomata-Succubus hybrid to come after us...' She put the comb down and headed over to her closet, where she picked up the Longinus Spear she'd been entrusted with. 'Ah well, I've been in need of a good battle.' Mere moments after leaving the room, a glow eminated from the gauntlet, and, lo and behold, Nelius appeared from it.

"What a trip...huh?" Noticing that his voice sounded a bit deeper, he looked into a mirror on his right.

His hair, which was normally a dark brown, now had a red shine to it and slicked backwards some, though it still concealed his ears. He was also a few inches taller, but what surprised him the most about the merge with his other self was that his eyes had changed to a neutral orange color.

"This is what I was supposed to look like? Oh, here it... what in the?" Apparently, he wasn't the only one to undergo a transformation.

The Shatter Gauntlet had slimmed down a bit, but at the same time appeared all the more deadly. As he picked it up and reattached it to his left hand, he noticed that his A. Knuckle glove on his right hand was missing, and in its place was another gauntlet similar to the Shatter Gauntlet, but it still had the capital A on the middle finger knuckle.

"They've changed, just like me. All right, now to..." He trailed off, feeling something stuck on the side of the left hand gauntlet. Picking it off, he noticed that it was some emerald green stone. 'How very strange, I can feel... something pulsating from this stone.' Simply deciding to take it with him, he began to walk out of the room, only to realize... "Wait a minute, where the hell am I?"

In another part of the castle..

Vassals were being tossed around like mere toys as the Neko-Succubus continued her rampage throughout the castle for reasons beknowest only to her.

"Etna! What the hell are you doing?!" Laharl was furious. "Why are you just watching? Get her!"

"Eh, don't sweat it, Prince." Etna just watched as more vassals went flying through the air. "She's bound to tire out sooner or later."

"That's it?! You're just going to watch as she destroys everything? What kind of vassal are you?!"

"Simple. A smart one." Seeing that this was going nowhere, Laharl decided to just jump into the fray himself. "Gets him off his lazy ass every time." She grinned.

Back with Nelius... 

"What's going on? I can hear fighting." He raced down the halls of the castle, hearing the sounds growing louder as he approached. "Sounds like someone got royally pissed." The stone he found began pulsating again as one of the copy Etnas came nearby.

"Man, she certainly is pissed off."

"Who's pissed off?"

"This weird hybrid monster. Looks like a cross between a Nekomata and one of Priere's Succubi. Dunno how she got in, but she'd creating a ruckus."

"Aw, damn it, you two!" He took off, and the stone began pulsing even further, though he was oblivious to this. "What could they be going on about this time?" As he rounded the corner, he felt as though something had yanked him back. Looking behind him revealed nobody, but he noticed that his hand that was carrying the stone had stopped. "Oh, shit!" He knew what was coming next.

In the ship...

"Ohhh, wha 'appened?" Brad finally woke up. "Hey, where are we?"

"Just outside Laharl's." Juno calmly replied as she filled another syringe. Predictably, he began bugging out again.

"H-how'd we end up back there again?!"

"Calm down, you." In a corner of the room stood the humanoid Brad. "Turns out that after that Neko-Succubus pummeled you to death, she hijacked the ship's controls and led us back here."

"WHAT?!! WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HER?!" 

"It wasn't really my business to begin with, and you really need to get over your fear of... what's that?"

"Hey, you've got to take a look at this!" Tikal had hijacked each of the screens on the ship, showing a quick broadcast of Laharl's castle. From one of the sections of the castle, up rose a ball of energy, which began interfering with the transmission, eventually cutting off the broadcast.

"Wha--how?" Brad was rather speechless. "The systems aboard the ship were already far ahead of their time, how could they get cut off?"

"I could only wonder what could generate that much power."

Back at the battle sight...or, what's left of it... 

The fighting just ceased all together as the figure of Nelius (though nobody at the time knew it was him) became encased in an energy sphere, which floated through the roof and outside.

"Welp, life as I know it ends here." The copy Etnas, who'd been enjoying the battle up to that point, began dissolving one after another until only the black Nekomata was left.

"There go my conversation partners." She simply got up and left.

**MAKAI! **

Nelius immediately remembered this sensation. Somehow, that stone had enough power to tear open a dimensional gate and sucked him into it.

'Where will I end up now?' He could feel his body flying around as if he'd been strapped to a rocket powered roller coaster set to the top speed of Mach 6. When he finally found himself coming to a complete stop, he landed face first on solid dirt.

Meanwhile, a pair of robotic eyes opened up. Data quickly began flashing across them.

"Processing commands... investigation of demonic life form commensing."

**MAKAI! **

After I'd told Hellfire about this being the last chapter, we had a small discussion between ourselves before coming to an agreement. As I'm writing the next story about Nelius' new adventure, he was going to be writing a seperate side story which details what Brad and his cohorts would be up to. 

Until Next Story,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough


End file.
